The Infamous Adrianna Fawley - 5th Year At Hogwarts
by Dragonwing5
Summary: The fifth year at Hogwarts has only just begun for the infamous Marauders, and things are looking up! But what happens when a new and intriguing student makes her way into their midst at this important moment in their lives? And how will her presence affect all of them for years to come? (Rated T for later content, rating may change as story progresses. Enjoy everyone!)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Well, here is my first attempt at a Harry Potter fic! I recently re-read the entire series and this idea just wouldn't leave me alone! Obviously some things won't coincide exactly with the book, especially with the introduction of OC's, but hopefully everything will flow well! The title is currently a 'working title', so if anyone thinks of something that would be better, I'm definitely open to suggestions! Enjoy!

Best,

Dragonwing

**Ch.1 – The New Gryffindor**

The start of fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry began in the typical way for James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, also known amongst themselves as the Marauders. First years were sorted into their respective Houses, class work was piled onto them in preparation for their O.W.L. exams, Lily Evans was still turning down James' advances, and some excellent pranks had already been thought up and executed on certain members of Slytherin House. In fact, fifth year was promising to be much like the previous four years had been for the four friends, and they had made it well into the first couple of months of the term without accruing too many detentions between them.

It was during the first week of October that a big change came their way, one that would make Hogwarts infinitely more interesting than it already was.

"Hey, Moony, you finished that essay for History of Magic yet?" James asked Remus as they were eating dinner that Friday evening in the Great Hall. The enchanted ceiling showed the final reds and purples of the setting sun giving way to a clear and starry sky.

"Yes I have," Remus answered without looking up from the book he had propped on a jug of pumpkin juice. "And no, you can't copy it."

"Aw, come on Moony!" James tossed a dinner roll at him, it connected solidly at the werewolf's chest and slid into his lap. Remus calmly put the hunk of bread next to his plate and was about to tell James exactly why he couldn't copy his essay, when Dumbledore stood up from the staff table and raised his hands for silence.

Once the students' talk had died down he smiled and addressed them. "While it is not my usual custom to make announcements in the middle of dinner, I have just received some news that simply cannot wait. I would like to announce that we have a new student who will be joining us here at Hogwarts." Several students exchanged looks and whispers, curious about who could possibly be starting school two months into the term. The headmaster went on,

"It is indeed unusual in the wizarding world for a student to change schools halfway through their education, let alone transfer to a school in a completely different country. In fact this will be a first for this school. We have made an exception in this case, however, and I am sure our new student's future House-mates will kindly receive her into our Hogwarts family. That being said, I would like all of you to give a warm welcome to our new transfer student. Coming from the Salem School of Witchcraft in the United States of America, and joining our 5th years as they prepare to take their O.W.L. exams, I would like to introduce Miss Adrianna Fawley!" Dumbledore gestured towards the doors to the Great Hall, which opened of their own accord to admit Hogwarts' first ever transfer student.

There was an audible gasp from the students sitting nearest to the large doors, and Adrianna hadn't made it halfway across the room before all of the male students, and many of the female students, were on their feet trying to see her. A couple of first year boys at the Ravenclaw table attempted to stand on their seats for a better view and promptly fell off onto the floor.

"What's going on?" Peter asked, trying in vain to see over the heads of the taller 5th years. "What is it?"

"Bloody hell…" James muttered, gripping Sirius' shoulder and craning his head for a better view. "You ever seen anything like _that_, Padfoot?"

"No…" Sirius shook his head, not even noticing the fingers digging into his flesh. "You, Moony?"

Remus did not respond, he was working too hard to slow his breathing down. Something about this person was decidedly _different_ and it made him nervous, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"For Merlin's sake!" Peter grumbled, becoming frustrated at not being able to see. "What's all the fuss about…_Oh!_" The smaller boy's complaint was cut off as the girl finally made her way up the steps to where Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were waiting with the recently produced Sorting Hat.

Adrianna Fawley was the most beautiful creature any of the students present could ever remember seeing. Hair the color of obsidian fell down to the small of her back in soft waves and framed a heart shaped face with strong cheekbones and full, blood red lips. While her skin was creamy and smooth, two faint patches of color touched her cheekbones, giving her the look of someone who spent a good deal of time being active. Long, dark lashes framed intelligent, coal grey eyes, and her finely arched brows were the same shade as her hair. Adrianna shook hands with a smiling Dumbledore and a slightly shocked looking Professor McGonagall. The Transfiguration professor regained her composure and gestured sharply for the rest of the students to sit back down. She then brought forward the Sorting Hat on its three legged stool and placed it in front of Adrianna. Before the girl could take a seat, however, Professor Dumbledore stopped her and whispered a question into her ear. Adrianna nodded, though her face did not show any reaction to the Headmaster's request.

Dumbledore faced the students and smiled serenely. "Before we place Miss Fawley into her House, there is one other announcement that I'd forgotten to make." The other staff members looked at the Headmaster curiously, obviously wondering what other surprises were in store for the evening. He continued, "I have been given permission by Miss Fawley, and her parents, to inform everyone that until we are used to having Miss Fawley in our midst, there may be some…_unusual_ occurrences to keep an eye out for. For example, if any of our male students find themselves suddenly, inexplicably, and hopelessly in love with Miss Fawley, and have never even spoken to her, I urge you to see Madam Pomfry at once for a remedy." There was a murmuring throughout the Great Hall as everyone tried to figure out the meaning behind Dumbledore's advice. Adrianna kept her gaze carefully trained on the stool in front of her as the Headmaster chuckled. "You see, everyone, Miss Fawley is a unique individual. She is currently the only child, whom we know of, in existence whose parents are a wizard and a succubus." The Great Hall buzzed with comments whispered between neighbors, even a few of the staff members leaned across to their fellows with looks of disbelief clearly written on their faces. Adrianna never took her eyes off of the stool, but a slight blush bloomed over her cheeks, which only served to make her look even more attractive. Dumbledore acted as if no one else was speaking and finished his little speech. "Having said that, I have been assured by Mr. and Mrs. Fawley that once Adrianna has been here for a few months the effects of her appearance should wear off for the most part. Those who find themselves still having difficulty should, as I said before, see Madam Pomfry and she will be able to assist you. And now without further delay, we shall sort Miss Fawley into her House." He smiled kindly and indicated that she could finally sit down. Adrianna moved gracefully around the stool and sat down, robes settling perfectly around her as Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat over her mass of hair.

The hat remained still and silent for a moment, several of those watching wondered if it would even sort a student who was not a first year, but then the wide seam that served as the hat's mouth opened as it exclaimed: "Why, what's _this_? An _older_ student, is it?" Adrianna closed her eyes as the hat fell silent again, apparently searching through her head to see which House would be best for her. Finally, after several tense minutes, the hat spoke again. "A _very_ difficult decision, yes…But in the end it had better be…_GRYFFINDOR_!"

The noise that erupted from the Gryffindor House table was deafening, the boys of Gryffindor House were particularly vocal while a few of their female counterparts shot them nasty looks and tugged them back into their seats. Professor Dumbledore returned the Sorting Hat to Professor McGonagall and clasped Adrianna's hand once more before turning to formally introduce her to all of the staff at the table. Meanwhile, talk resumed amongst the students.

"How crazy is this, eh?" James grinned, throwing an arm around Sirius' neck. "And I'm not just saying this, but, does her last name sound _familiar_ to anyone besides me?"

"Fawley?" Peter queried, "I'm not sure…"

"There was a Headmaster Fawley a long time ago," Remus said, having finally gotten control over his erratic breathing. "Maybe she's related to him?"  
Sirius shook off James' arm and brought his fist down on the table. "That's it!" The other Marauders looked at him curiously. "The _Fawleys_ are one of the oldest pureblood wizard families left. I remember my father talking about them," He made a face at the memory. "He was saying that they're one of the only pureblood families that our family hasn't managed to marry into."

James laughed, "Well, here's your chance to fix that, eh Padfoot?" Sirius blushed and punched James in the arm.

"Wait," Peter still looked puzzled. "I thought Dumbledore said she was from America?"

Remus shrugged and picked up the book he'd abandoned during the headmaster's announcements. "Well, maybe one of the Fawleys moved there a while back and met her…uh…mother there."

"Could be," James mused, taking a healthy bite of mashed potatoes. "We'll just have to ask her won't we?"

Before any of the others could answer, Professor McGonagall approached and cleared her throat. "If I could see Miss Evans and Mr. Lupin for a moment? As prefects and fellow fifth years, Professor Dumbledore feels you two will be the best candidates to show Miss Fawley around and help her become acclimated to Hogwarts." Several seats away, Lily stood up immediately and made her way to their Head of House. Remus closed his book reluctantly and fought the urge to begin hyperventilating again as he stood up slowly from the table.

"Nice one, Moony!" James whispered and winked at the werewolf. "You can get her to come and sit with us, yeah?"

Remus opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, unable to answer, until Professor McGonagall gave his arm a tug and he was forced to follow her and Lily up to the staff table where Adrianna was waiting with Dumbledore.

The Gryffindor prefects were introduced to Adrianna by Professor Dumbledore, "I'm sure you will be in excellent hands with these two!" and with a friendly smile he led Professor McGonagall back to the staff table, leaving the three teens standing by themselves.

"It's nice to meet you, Adrianna. I'm Lily Evans." Lily smiled and shook the other girl's hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you too." Adrianna's voice was smooth, almost musical. She turned to the other prefect and extended her hand.

It took a poke in the back from Lily to get Remus to greet her. "R-Remus Lupin." He stuttered, taking her hand and gasping slightly at how _warm_ her palm was against his own. His werewolf sense of smell picked up a distinct scent coming off of the young woman, it wasn't _unpleasant_ but at the same time he couldn't identify it.

Adrianna tipped her head to the side and looked at Remus curiously for a moment before smiling and letting go of his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Remus." She looked at both of them in turn. "I really do appreciate you showing me the ropes around here."

"No problem!" Lilly gestured towards the Gryffindor table, where most of the occupants were still staring avidly at the new student. "Let's sit down, shall we? You should have time to get something to eat before the dessert comes out."

"Oh, it's alright." Adrianna said as the three of them walked to the table. "I probably won't have anything tonight. I don't really need to eat very much."  
"You don't?" Remus asked curiously.

"No," The dark haired girl laughed softly, the sound hit Remus' ears like little bells. "You see, succubi don't need to eat unless they want to, and since I'm half succubus I only need to eat very little. Unless I just feel like eating more, that is."

"Fascinating…" Remus murmured as they reached the section of the table where his friends were sitting.

As usual, James was trying his best to chat up Lily. "Come on, Evans! You're showing our new classmate around with Remus, why not sit with us?"

"I don't know…" Lily huffed, she looked at Adrianna. "Is here ok with you?"

The other girl nodded, her hair flowing forward slightly and then settling perfectly back into place. "Sure, this is fine. Hi, I'm Adrianna." She was quickly introduced to James, Sirius, and Peter across the table before taking a seat in between Lily and Remus.

"You've certainly caused quite a stir around here," James grinned as the food on the table vanished and was replaced with the night's dessert. "Bloody brilliant if you ask me! Even some of the teachers look a little dumbstruck!"

"Yeah, I don't think Professor Dumbledore told them I was transferring here." Adrianna glanced back at the staff table, and noticed that one professor in particular was keeping a sharp eye on the Gryffindor table. She turned back to the others and inclined her head back at the staff table, "Why is _that_ one still staring so hard though?"

Sirius followed her direction and snorted. "That's Professor Slughorn, the potions master. He's a bit of a…student collector."

"_Student collector_?" Adrianna asked, raising a finely arched brow. "How so?"

"He likes to surround himself with students that he thinks are _special, talented_." James smirked. "He thinks Evans here is a regular potions prodigy."

Lily sniffed and refused to look back at the still watching Slughorn. "Yes, he thinks I'm '_specia_l', for a Muggle-born anyway." She made a face and flipped her red hair over her shoulder in annoyance.

Adrianna looked up sharply at Lily. "What would _that_ have to do with anything?"

"You're kidding, right?" Sirius asked, looked at her through a lock of his long hair. "There are still plenty of witches and wizards around who think that being 'pureblood' is the most important thing in the world." He stabbed his treacle tart with a fork and muttered darkly. "My parents included."

"Yeah, well your parents are nutters either way." James said brightly, and then he turned back to Adrianna. "But, yeah, that way of thinking is pretty common."

"Hmm…" She took a sip of pumpkin juice. Sirius tried and failed to not stare at her slender throat as she did so. "It's not like that so much anymore in the States, I think that's why my father moved there."

"So you are related to the Britain Fawleys?" Remus asked, "Did you know one of your ancestors was a headmaster here?"

Adrianna smiled at the sandy haired Marauder. "Yes, I did. I was hoping to see his portrait sometime and have a chat. If he'll talk to me that is." She looked down quickly, "Some of my father's relatives haven't been _too_ happy to meet me, but the rest have been nice enough."

"They're upset that you're not a pureblood?" Lily asked, frowning.

"Not exactly," Adrianna sighed, her red lips twisted ruefully. "I think they're more upset about the fact that I'm not purely _human_."

Remus gulped and shuddered next to her, but she didn't seem to notice. The conversation steered towards more pleasant topics, though all Peter managed to do was stare at the newest Gryffindor with his mouth hanging slightly open. Eventually the remaining food disappeared from the tables, Dumbledore bid them all goodnight, and the students began making their way out of the Great Hall back towards their dormitories.

The task of getting Adrianna out of the Great Hall and into Gryffindor tower turned out to be a much more difficult feat than they'd originally thought. Both Lily and Remus had to stick with the intriguing new arrival as student after student, mostly boys, stopped them so that they could introduce themselves to Adrianna. A second year Hufflepuff boy even went so far as to ask for the girl's hand in marriage before they'd even made it to the staircase. But Adrianna took it all in stride, greeting people as quickly and politely as she could before moving on with the Gryffindor prefects. She even courteously thanked the second year for his offer, but declined and suggested he go see Madam Pomfry before going to bed. The other three Marauders eventually took it upon themselves to create a sort of buffer around the two girls and Remus, fielding off approaching students and, in one particular case, James cast a particularly effective hex on a fourth year Slytherin who didn't seem to want to take Sirius's polite "Back off, you git!" for an answer.

After finally making it to the entrance to the common room, they then had to deal with the portrait of the fat lady 'oooh-ing' and 'ahh-ing' over Gryffindor's newest addition. James, after saying the password five times, finally shouted "_Codswallop_, dammit! Codswallop!" and the portrait swung open with a **bang**. Lily and Adrianna sank gratefully onto a loveseat by the fireplace while the boys took up the chairs immediately around them. They still had to field off a few more interested students, but Adrianna seemed more tolerant of people from her new house compared to some of the others who'd tried to stop her progress to the common room.

"You have so much patience!" Lily exclaimed after the last starry-eyed first year had stumbled away. "I wouldn't be able to _stand_ that kind of attention!"

"I'm used to it for the most part," Adrianna sighed, tilting her had back against the couch. "It will all calm down once people get used to seeing me around, just like Dumbledore said."

"Still, it's got to be annoying." James stretched. "What do you do when you go out in public?"

Her red lips twisted again. "Well, in the wizarding world I usually don't do anything. People are going to know I'm different either way. But if I'm going to be around Muggles I have a potion I can take a spoonful of and it will…as my father puts it…'dim my light' a little bit. Enough to where I can walk around without drawing too much attention."

"Do you spend much time around Muggles?" Lily asked with interest.

Adrianna looked at her curiously. "Of course, in America I did anyway. It's such a big country, and we're all so spread out, that we really can't help it. Even children born in all-wizard families go to Muggle schools until after grade five," She grinned at the shocked expressions she received. "In fact, one of my best friends that I grew up with is a Muggle."

"That's great!" Lily sighed wistfully. "I wish the wizarding community was more tolerant around here…"

"It just takes time," Adrianna said reassuringly, putting a hand on her new friend's arm.

Lily nodded and stood up, "Well, I don't know about you Adrianna, but I'm exhausted! I may even wait until tomorrow to finish up some work, since its Saturday."  
"_Evans_ is putting off homework?" James gasped dramatically and threw a hand across his forehead. "I think I may faint!" He laughed and pulled Peter up. "Let's go, lads, and let our new Gryffindor get some rest!"

Sirius rose slowly and seemed to want to say something to Adrianna, who had stood as well with Lily, but couldn't seem to get anything out. Instead he managed a quick "g'night" and reluctantly headed for the stairs after Peter and James. Remus was the last to get up, having taken the time to finish reading a page he'd been on. He smiled brightly, "Well, goodnight then!"

Adrianna stopped him with a light touch on his forearm and turned back to the red haired girl waiting on the stairs, "I'll be right up, Lily, I just need to ask Remus something."

"Alright!" Lily waved to Remus and vanished up the stairwell.

"W-what is it?" Remus asked nervously. The hand that she still had on his arm felt like it was burning through his robe sleeve.

Adrianna turned back to him and smiled softly, "There's something I need to ask you, Remus. I was going to wait, but I think now it would be better to go ahead and get it out of the way."

"Really?" His voiced cracked slightly and he winced. "What's that?" Remus fiddled with the bookmark sticking out of the thick tomb he'd been reading, trying to avoid her steady grey gaze.

"Do your friends know that you're a werewolf, Remus?" Adrianna asked evenly. "Or do you keep it to yourself?"  
The book in Remus' hands hit the floor with a dull **thud**. His eyes widened and he did another excellent impersonation of a goldfish trying to breathe air. "I…I…that is…um…" Remus looked frantically around the empty room before whispering. "_How did you_ _know_?"

She chuckled, shook her head, and bent down to retrieve the fallen book. "You should read up on succubi, I think." He took the book back dumbly as she continued. "Full-blooded succubi can immediately tell if someone is…different from the average human. It's a useful ability, and, it happens to be one I've inherited." She placed another warm hand on his arm, trying to comfort the still gobsmacked lycanthrope. "I could tell the minute I met you, it showed up as a kind of aura when I shook your hand. Plus," Adrianna giggled and tapped the side of her nose. "You also _smell_ like a werewolf, no offense."

She waited patiently while Remus managed to find his voice again. "That's…I've never heard of _anyone_ being able to do that!" He looked around nervously again. "Anyway…yes…James, Sirius, and Peter know about it…they're the ones that help me when I have to…transform. But no one else knows! Please, _please _don't say anything!"

"Of course not," Adrianna became very serious. "I would never do that to you, Remus, I promise. I just wanted to let you know that I knew about it, and that I'm here for you if you need me."

"You are?" Remus asked, surprised. "Why?"

She gave him another rueful smile, "Well, I know what it's like to be…different from everyone else. I also know what it's like to have people discriminate against me, or even hate me, because of what I am."  
"Who would ever _hate_ you?" He said softly, clutching his book with a knuckle-whitening grip.

"You'll notice soon, if you haven't already, that most women don't exactly like me right off." Adrianna sighed. "It's natural though, a defense mechanism, they realize that men are going to initially pursue me regardless of whether they're committed already or not, and it can make them pretty…hostile. Lily is a rare exception to that, I could tell when I met her that she didn't find me threatening, and it's such a relief…"

Remus looked up at her when she trailed off. She was staring into the dying fire, a flash of something like pain or regret briefly crossing her beautiful face. After a moment she seemed to sense that the conversation had lagged and she looked at him again.

"Either way, I just figured that people like us could stick together." Adrianna smiled warmly, "It's not every day that I meet someone else who is, to use Professor Dumbledore's word, _unique_." She put out a hand for him to take again. "Friends?"  
He put out a shaky hand into hers and immediately felt a soothing warmth spread through his palm and up his arm. Remus smiled back at her, "Yes, friends."

"Good." Adrianna patted his arm once more. "Goodnight Remus, see you tomorrow." She turned in a whirl of robes, long hair, and that particular scent that he still couldn't identify.

By the time he recovered some from the shock of having his secret discussed so openly and understandingly, she had already disappeared up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

Remus grinned stupidly and spoke into the empty common room. "Goodnight Adrianna. Welcome to Hogwarts."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Chapter 2! Enjoy!

**Ch. 2 – Record Players & Evening Runs**

The following morning found Remus Lupin surrounded by his dorm mates the moment he woke up, grilling him about what he was doing for so long in the common room with Adrianna the night before. Groggily, the sandy haired Marauder recapped their conversation, rather enjoying the shocked looks on all of his friends' faces.

"She could _smell_ your werewolfiness?" Sirius asked, incredulous. "Bloody hell, mate."

"Good thing she's going to be so cool about it, 'eh Moony?" James said, lounging on the foot of Remus' bed.

"Yeah," Remus nodded, running a hand over his face. "That's a relief."

"I wonder if she can smell that we're all Animaguses?" Peter mused from across the room. The other three looked at him for a minute before sending a barrage of pillows at the smaller boy's head.

"It's _Animagi_," Remus corrected after landing a pretty spot on hit.

"I seriously doubt she can _smell _that, Wormtail." James laughed. "C'mon! Let's get down to breakfast before everything's gone!"

When the four boys entered the Great Hall, they could see Lily, Adrianna, and another of Lily's friends sitting together at the far end of the Gryffindor table. As they got closer, they saw that the girls were looking through a large photo album. The cover was black, on the front in gold lettering were the words "Salem Academy", with a gold embossed, haughty looking cat sitting below the name.

"Morning ladies!" James called loudly, drawing looks from the nearby Ravenclaw table. The Marauders sat across from the three girls and began helping themselves to breakfast.

"What are you looking at?" Sirius asked, spearing a sausage out from under James' nose.

"Adrianna is showing us some pictures from her home and school in America." Lily said without looking up from the album.

"Cool, can we see too?" Remus asked.

"Sure," Adrianna smiled. "As soon as they're done you're welcome to look through it."

"Oh! What a cute puppy!" Lily's friend, Agnes, squealed. "How old are you here?"

Adrianna glanced at the page they were on, "Around twelve, I think? That's Ares, I'd just gotten him that day. He's back home with my parents now."

Sirius craned his head trying to get a look, but Agnes had already turned the page again.

Lily was especially interested in the pictures of Adrianna's old school. "Salem Academy looks so pretty! Is it an all girls' school?"

"It used to be," She answered, looking over at the page Lily was on. "Back when they first formed the school, Salem was set aside on the east coast for witches only, while another school, Brawcraft, was created on the west coast for wizards. Then, about three hundred years or so ago they decided to make both the schools coed, but the entrance exam to get into Salem is still way more difficult."

"Wait, you had to take an _entrance exam_ to get into school?" Peter asked, visibly paling.

Before Adrianna could answer, however, Lily turned another page in the album and exclaimed, "_Merlin_! How many sports teams were you on at this school, Adrianna?"  
"A few," The half-succubus grinned, white teeth standing out against her red lips.

"A _few_?" Lily rolled her eyes. "I've counted four already and there's probably more."

Adrianna shrugged and popped a grape into her mouth. "I like being active. It makes it easier to keep my succubus side from being too unpredictable." Remus wanted to ask her exactly what she meant by that, but James jumped into the conversation.

"What sports did you play?" The Gryffindor Seeker's interest was piqued. "We only have the one team per House here."

"Let's see," Adrianna ticked the list off on her fingers as she went. "Soccer, flag football, track and field, swim team…"  
"And Quidditch!" Lily exclaimed, pointing to a photo in the album.

"Really? Let us see!" Sirius and James both grabbed for the album. Lily gave it over grudgingly, muttering about impatient boys.

"Hey, there you are!" James studied a picture of a slightly younger Adrianna standing with a large Quidditch team. They were all grinning and holding their brooms high, on the ground by Adrianna's feet sat a large trophy proclaiming them the school champions. The Adrianna in the picture even had a Quaffle tucked in the hand that wasn't holding her broom. She smiled up at them out of the picture.

"You're a Chaser?" James asked excitedly.

"Well, I was, yes." Adrianna chuckled. "Last year was the first time I'd played for a team. It was really fun, though!"

"You should come out and fly with us once James schedules the Gryffindor Quidditch practices." Sirius suggested and handed the album back across the table.

"Sounds fun!" She accepted the book back and put it in her bag. "I haven't been on a broom in ages."

"So, what's on the agenda today, Evans?" James asked, leaning across the table towards Lily. "Fancy a stroll around the lake?"

"Actually," Lily said sternly. "I'm showing Adrianna the rest of the castle today. Actually," She turned towards Agnes. "We should probably get going. I'll see you later, ok Agnes?" Her friend nodded and left to join another group of girls several seats down.

"Well, see you later guys." Adrianna waved goodbye as she followed Lily's lead and got up from the table.

"Shot down again, 'eh Prongs?" Sirius joked, watching the two girls walk away. Remus chuckled, while Peter looked at Sirius reproachfully.

James shrugged and grabbed another muffin as the food began to disappear off the table. "Slowly but surely, mate! This time last year she wouldn't even sit with us in here."

Sirius grinned wolfishly. "True, but do you reckon that has anything to do with _you_, or with Miss Fawley?"

"Shut up, you git." James retorted good naturedly.

OOOOOOOOOO

The tour around the rest of Hogwarts castle took most of the morning. Lily made sure that Adrianna knew how to find the library, Professor McGonagall's office, all of their basic classrooms, and also pointed out which stair steps tended to disappear or stick if you weren't paying attention. They had a slight run-in with Peeves the Poltergeist while walking along the seventh floor corridor. Lily fully expected the floating terror to throw something nasty at them or make a rude comment. Instead, she was utterly shocked when the poltergeist floated calmly down to their eye level, introduced himself to Adrianna, and _bowed_ courteously to the new student.

"If you ever need old Peevsie you just call me, pretty lady." Peeves swept his ridiculous hat off once again and floated away to taunt a passing group of first years.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it!" Lily laughed after Peeves was out of sight. "How did you do that?"

Adrianna looked slightly puzzled. "It's possible I glamoured him without meaning too, but that usually doesn't work on non-humans."

"Glamoured?" The redhead asked as they started back down the nearest staircase.

"It's my word for what succubi do when they…I don't know…sort of hypnotize someone. A lot of old books on succubi talk about how men would find themselves suddenly out in the middle of nowhere with no memory of how they got there or what they did. If it _was_ a succubus that did it, then she would have _glamoured _him to get him to do whatever she wanted…It's no wonder succubi have such a bad reputation, huh?"

Lily was silent for several minutes, finally she asked: "Why is it that succubi would do that to people?"

Adriana considered her answer carefully. "Well, how would you feel if you were given the most potent powers of seduction, and then thrown into a race where there are _only_ females? I think sometimes some of them would just get lonely. Some of them, like my mom, want lasting love. But then there are those, like most of my aunts, who have given up on finding someone altogether and are just content with being what they are. Of course along the way they picked up a lot of negative attention, but my aunts are working really hard to break the stereotypes."

The pair didn't speak anymore as they made their way back to the front entrance of the castle and out onto the grounds. Adrianna turned her face up to the sun with a pleased smile, and Lily caught a glimpse of what her "succubus side" must look like. The reflective rays made the girl's skin glow in a way that was slightly eerie, her raven-wing hair and bright red lips looked even more pronounced, and it wasn't until they moved out of the patch of sun that Lily let out a breath that she hadn't even known she was holding. Shuddering slightly, Lily looked around and noticed a free patch of grass beneath a large tree by the lake. She led her new friend to the spot and the two girls leaned back on the soft grass to watch the giant squid frolic in the warm weather.

It wasn't long, however, before they were found by the four Marauders. The boys spread themselves among the two girls, asking how the rest of the tour went. While inclined to generally ignore James and his constant questions, Lily did take some pleasure in recounting the story of Peeves' apparent adoration of their newest classmate.

"Blimey!" Peter huffed. "I don't think Peeves has ever been _nice_ to anyone in his life!"

"Definitely not." Remus took a bar of chocolate out of his bag and offered a piece to the girls. They thanked him and accepted the little squares.

"Say, what's that?" James suddenly pointed up into the sky. Sure enough, some kind of unidentifiable shape was making its way across the sky towards Hogwarts castle.

Adrianna stood up for a better look. Finally, after a few minutes she gasped. "It's owls, four of them! Looks like they're carrying a box or something." As if sensing her acknowledgement of their progress, the owls changed course and headed straight for the little group sitting beneath the tree. They landed as softly as they could, depositing a large, brown wrapped package at Adrianna's feet. All four owls slumped onto the ground and regrouped for a moment before taking off for the school owlery.

"What is it?" Lily asked curiously.

Adrianna pulled off a small envelope that had been attached to the package and quickly read it. "This is from my parents! I think I know what it might be…" She grinned and carefully unwrapped the brown paper. Inside was a wooden crate with the word **FRAGILE** stamped into the top of it. Using a quick spell to remove the nails holding the crate closed, Adrianna pulled off the lid and looked inside. "Yes!" Her face lit up as she dug through the packing material to pull out a small, Muggle record player. "My record player! Dad must have fixed it to work on magic." Next out came a stack of twenty or so records made to fit the machine currently sitting on the grass. She took a record out of a cover with the name 'Creedence Clearwater Revival' printed on its front. Adrianna put the record onto the turnstile, flipped the on switch, and placed the needle on the outermost edge of the disc. Music came blaring out of a speaker built into the side of the player, a raging electric guitar accompanied by a raspy man's voice singing about being "born on the bayou". Adrianna grinned at the confused looks on all of the boys' faces, and the amused look on Lily's.

"I haven't listened to records in years!" Lily laughed and began looking through Adrianna's collection. "My parents used to play them every night after dinner."

And so the rest of the afternoon was spent with the guys examining Adrianna's record player and asking questions about how it was able to take the music off of the ridges in the black discs and send it back out through the speaker.

OOOOOOOOOO

Later that evening, back in the Gryffindor common room, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had managed to secure the best seats by the fire as usual. They were still discussing the pros and cons of the Muggle way of recording music, interjected every so often with half hearted reminders from Remus that they still had a massive amount of homework to do by Monday.

Just then, Lily came bounding down the stairs, not in her school robes but in a pair of track pants, sneakers, and a sweatshirt.

"Oi! Evans!" James perked up. "Where are you off to dressed like that?"

"Not that it's any of your business, James Potter," Lily snapped. "But Adrianna asked me if I wanted to go for a run around the grounds with her."

"A run?" Sirius asked, cocking his head to the side just like a curious dog. "Doesn't curfew start really soon though?"

"Has that ever mattered to you before?" Remus muttered from his place by the fire.

"Oh shut it, Moony." Sirius scoffed. "I…"

But the rest of his comment died away as Adrianna came down the stairs to join Lily. Her long hair was pulled back into a thick braid; she was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and running shorts.

There was an awkward moment of silence as practically every male in the common room found his eyes glued to Adrianna's long, shapely legs.

Remus finally broke through the quiet, looking slightly worried. "The caretaker won't be happy if he catches you out of the dormitory this time of night, you know."

"It's ok, I have permission from Professor Dumbledore. I just have to wear this." Adrianna pulled a long chain with a gold disc attached to it out of her sweatshirt. "He said just to show it if we have any trouble." She grinned at the boys and pulled Lily towards the portrait hole. "Well, have a good night!" The two girls left and talk gradually began to build back up. Only the fifth years sitting by the fire were still silent, until James finally looked at Sirius and said very slowly: "Oi, mate. Do you have any idea how hard you were staring at her arse?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Well, things seem to be moving right along! At first I'd wanted to make this one long story encompassing 5th, 6th, and 7th year, but now that I've had time to lay out a proper story line I'm thinking I might break it up into two or three separate installments. Who knows? Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Best,

Dragonwing

**Ch. 3 – Love Potions**

The following Monday dawned bright and sunny, with a faint chill on the air promising cooler weather on the way. It was Adrianna's first full day of classes, so she and Lily had gone over the fifth year schedule the night before.

"So this morning is double Potions with Professor Slughorn, right?" Adrianna asked as the green eyed girl led the way from the Great Hall down to the dungeons.

Lily nodded. "Right, we're sharing that class with the fifth year Slytherins." She made a slight face that was not lost on her companion.

"People place a lot of emphasis on which House they're in here, don't they?" The dark haired girl asked tentatively.

"Well, yeah." Lily said as they reached the corridor that ended at the potions classroom. "What House you're sorted into can have a huge effect on what kind of person you'll be."

"Hmm…" Adrianna murmured. "Perhaps I shouldn't have argued so hard with the hat then…"

"What?" Lily stopped, wanting to know what her friend meant by that last comment. Just then, however, the classroom door swung open and Professor Slughorn stepped out into the hallway to usher the students in.

"Ah, excellent!" Slughorn zeroed in on Adrianna as soon as she walked into the dungeon classroom. After vigorously shaking her hand, he started leading her towards a table at the front of the room. She reached back just in time to grip Lily's wrist and bring the redhead along for the ride, giving her a clear '_please, don't leave me alone here!_' look as they went. Slughorn deposited the girls at the front work table on the Gryffindor side of the room as the rest of the class was filing in.

"Excellent!" Slughorn beamed again, drumming his fingers on his massive belly as the other students sat down. Once everyone was present, his voice boomed across the room. "Good morning class! I trust everyone had a momentous weekend?" Without waiting for an answer, the portly potions master swept a large hand towards Lily and Adrianna's table. "And I trust we are all making our most _unique_ new student feel welcome?"

Lily giggled while Adrianna deftly pressed a thumb and forefinger into her eyelids, as if she were trying to ward off a headache. Thankfully, Slughorn did not say anymore, but proceeded to procure and arrange three different cauldrons on his desk at the front of the room.

"Looks like he's got his eye on you," Sirius leaned up and whispered to Adrianna, as he and James had managed to grab the table behind the two girls. "Better watch out or you'll be added to old Slughorn's collection in no time!"

Adrianna turned slightly in her seat and smirked at the dark haired Gryffindor behind her. "I'd like to see him try." She whispered back. Sirius grinned at her and she was turning back around when something, or rather someone, caught her attention. It was a Slytherin boy sitting close to the front of the room on the other side. He seemed to be having some kind of internal argument with himself, alternating between looks of pure hatred at Sirius and James' table, and a gaze of open fascination at Adrianna and Lily's table. Adrianna was able to take in his thin frame, dark eyes, prominent nose, and curtain of long black hair before he realized that she was looking right at him. He blushed furiously and buried his nose in his potions book, writing feverishly in the margins.

"Now," Professor Slughorn's voice brought her attention back to the front of the room. "I have here on my desk, three covered cauldrons. We are going to have a little quiz to see how much you've absorbed over the last couple of months." There was an audible groan from many of the students, but the professor merely wagged a fat finger at them. "Really, now! I'm sure you will all be able to identify these potions easily, as they are three that I have _specifically _said will be covered on your O.W.L.s! Here is the first one," He removed the first cauldron lid. "Can anyone identify it by sight alone?"

A few hands went up, Lily's and the dark haired Slytherin boy's included, Slughorn looked around the room eagerly before finally choosing Lily.

"It's a Laughter Potion," Lily said confidently. "You can tell because of the pink color, and because it's still bubbling even with no fire underneath."

"Excellent!" Slughorn smiled. "Ten points to Gryffindor! Now, here is the second potion." He pried off the second lid, revealing a thick, viscous fluid that reminded Adrianna of mud. Not as many hands went up this time, the professor mulled over his choices before selecting the Slytherin boy. "Severus! What would you say this is?"

Adrianna heard a low voice mutter "Polyjuice Potion, sir." and Slughorn awarded ten points to Slytherin for the boy's answer. Somewhere behind her, she heard James whisper Sirius and the two sniggered under their breaths. Adrianna had the distinct impression that it was something not nice about the Slytherin boy, but couldn't be sure since she didn't actually hear what they'd said. She sighed and lifted her heavy hair up to cool the back of her neck. When she released it, her curls rippled down and settled into perfect ebony waves once more. Several audible sighs of admiration echoed behind her, followed quickly by a **thwack** as a Slytherin girl hit her boyfriend on the back of the head for staring.

"Outstanding!" Slughorn was saying, oblivious to what had just happened. He clapped his hands together eagerly. "I'm thinking this may be one of my best fifth year classes to date!" He placed a hand on the final cauldron's lid. "Last, but not least! This particular potion is extremely difficult to brew correctly and even harder to identify if you have no prior experience with it. Let's see who can guess this one, shall we?"

The professor had barely cracked the lid of the cauldron when there was a sharp gasp at the front of the room. Slughorn stopped and looked around for the source, which was easy enough to spot. Lily was staring wide eyed at Adrianna, who had made the noise and then quickly whipped her hands up to cover her nose and mouth.

"Don't open it!" The half-succubus begged. Her voice was slightly muffled behind her palms. She jumped up out of her seat, sending books and parchment tumbling to the floor. Everyone in the room, Professor Slughorn included, gawked openly as Adrianna scrambled for a scrap of parchment and a quill. Keeping one hand clamped over her nose, she scribbled a quick note and shoved the parchment at Lily. Slughorn broke out of his stupor when Adrianna's muffled voice spoke again, "I'm sorry professor, but, I can't stay in here!" She then turned and swiftly left the dungeon classroom, leaving all of her belongings behind, and closing the door behind her with a **bang**.

"I…I say, now!" Slughorn stuttered. He looked at Lily, who was holding Adrianna's note trying to read the hastily written message. "What does it say, Miss Evans?"

Lily looked up at the potions master and then back down at the parchment. "It says, '_LOVE POTION! Allergic! Poisonous!_'…" She glanced back at the door. "Professor, may I go check on her?"

Slughorn appeared to not have heard her. He was too busy pulling the lid the rest of the way off of the cauldron. A pearly sheen rippled across the top of the liquid as it smoked, filling the room with pleasant smells that were different for each individual person.

"Well…" He began, looking dumbly at the potion. "In a way, Miss Fawley was correct. This, class, is Amortentia – the most powerful love potion in the world. Though I can't imagine what she means by saying it's poisonous…"

Lily cleared her throat. "Um…Professor?"  
Slughorn's head shot up and he finally answered her. "Oh, yes! Yes, of course. Please do check on Miss Fawley for me, Miss Evans. And please tell her that once the class has taken the appropriate notes on this potion I will vanish it, and she may return to class if she is able."  
"Thank you, Professor." Lily quickly got up and slipped out of the room, ignoring the questioning looks James and his friends gave her.

Lily found Adrianna a little ways down the corridor. Her forehead was pressed against the cool stone of the dungeon wall and she was taking slow, deep breaths.

"Adrianna?" Lily tentatively put a hand on the dark haired girl's shoulder. "Are you ok?"

Grey eyes opened and peeked at her from behind a curtain of hair that had fallen across her face. "Yes, I'm fine." Adrianna sighed, turning around and leaning her back against the wall. "That was close, though."

"So you're _allergic_ to love potions?" Her red haired friend asked.

"You could say that." She glared at the opposite wall. "Love potions are _disgusting_. They're one of the few things that could seriously injure or even _kill _a fully grown succubus. And with me being half…just the smell is enough to make me physically ill. If he had pulled the lid all the way off, I would have been sick all over your potions notes." Adrianna grimaced and pinched her nose as if she could still smell the potion.

"Wow," Lily breathed. "I had no idea. I'd always read that succubi were nearly immortal, that nothing could really harm them."

Adrianna smirked. "Yeah, well, it isn't exactly something the succubi have wanted a lot of people to know. Otherwise people would probably be trying to slip them love potions more often than they already do. That's why there hasn't been much interaction between the wizard and succubus communities over last few hundred years, too much resentment over damned love potions, among other things."

"I'm sorry," Lily put a hand on her arm. "Professor Slughorn says he'll vanish the potion soon if you want to come back to class?"

"I wish I could," Adrianna wrinkled her nose. "But the smell will probably be there for the rest of the day, even if the potion is gone. I'd better not." She tried to stand up from against the wall and instantly became dizzy. Holding a hand to her forehead, Adrianna sank back against the stone and groaned, "That must have been some pretty potent stuff, I still feel a little sick…"

"Here, why don't I go get our stuff and then I'll take you to Madam Pomfry, alright?" Lily waited for a shaky nod before bolting back to the potions classroom. She explained to Professor Slughorn what she was going to do, ignored James, Sirius, and Remus' whispered questions as she gathered their belongings, and headed back out with both her and Adrianna's bags slung over her shoulders.

OOOOOOOOOO

An anti-nausea draught from Madam Pomfry cleared Adrianna up fairly quickly, and the two girls were already seated at the Gryffindor House table when the rest of the students began drifting in for lunch. Adrianna was immediately converged upon by people who had either been in the classroom, or who had heard from their friends about the incident, asking if she was well. She handled the influx of well-wishers calmly, but definitely looked a bit relieved when Sirius, Remus, James and Peter made their way over and sat down with the girls, creating another effective Marauder-barrier.

"All right, then?" James asked as they sat down, running a hand through his messy hair and grinning. "Gave old Slughorn quite a fit, you did."

"Do love potions really affect you that badly?" Sirius asked as food began to appear on the tables.

"Yep," Adrianna sighed, picking a roll apart on her plate. "Just the smell is enough to make me really sick. If I ever drank a dose of one that was strong enough it would probably kill me."

"Oh my God," Remus murmured, looking down at his lap. "That's terrible." He looked up suddenly when a warm hand found his on the table, Adrianna squeezed his fingers reassuringly.

"Don't worry about it, ok? I obviously can smell a love potion from a mile away, so I don't think anyone will be sneaking me one anytime soon." She winked at the werewolf. He grinned back at her and nodded.

OOOOOOOOOO

The classes following lunch went much more smoothly for Adrianna than potions had. Herbology with Professor Sprout passed without incident, and the new member of Gryffindor House got to meet Hagrid, the game warden, as they were leaving the green houses.

"Pleased ter meet yer!" Hagrid boomed, shaking her hand with his massive fist. "I was righ' excited to learn we'd be havin' yer with us, I was!"

"Thank you!" Adrianna beamed up at him, mentally reading large man the same way she'd done to Lupin. "It's very nice to meet you as well."

Hagrid grinned. "Well I hope yer enjoyin' yer time 'ere at Hogwarts! If yer'd ever like to stop by fer a spot 'o tea, ust let me know!" With that he lumbered away towards his cabin by the forest.

"You're just making friends with everyone, aren't you?" Lily giggled as the two girls made their way to Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws for their final class of the day.

"Seems that way." Adrianna smiled and gently pushed the other girl's shoulder.

After Transfiguration, which also went fairly well considering they were supposed to be turning teacups into turtles, the mixed group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws blended in with the rest of the students walking through the halls. Adrianna immediately took more notice of the separations that occurred due to the students being put into separate Houses. She supposed that the purpose was to foster friendship in-House, but she also couldn't help but notice some intense animosity between certain groups. Especially between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. After seeing James hex an unsuspecting Slytherin first year farther down the hall, she was trying to decide if she ought to say something to him when she spotted someone whom she wanted to speak with. Excusing herself to Lily, Adrianna doubled back and went to catch up with him.

Severus Snape stood just inside an alcove that housed one of the school's many suits of armor. After seeing James Potter hex a Slytherin first year, to the amusement of his arrogant friends, he'd thought it best to hang back for a few minutes. He clutched the books in his hands so tightly that his knuckles turned white, just _once_ he wanted that cocky Gryffindor bastard to get what he deserved…  
"Excuse me?" A smooth voice said behind him. "You're Severus, aren't you?"  
Severus jumped, dropping his books and school bag onto the floor. He whirled around, ready to flay whoever had just sneaked up on him, and came face to face with Adrianna Fawley.  
"I...I...yes." He managed to choke out, completely gobsmacked over finding himself standing eye-to-eye with the beautiful half-succubus.  
"I'm sorry I startled you. Here, let me help." She apologized and bent down to help him pick up his things. He scrambled down himself, trying to pack everything back up as quickly as he could. They both stood a moment later, and Adrianna handed him one of the books he'd been holding.  
"Th...thank you." Severus breathed. He was at a complete loss over what she could possibly want with him.  
Sensing his unease, Adrianna smiled brightly. "I have a favor to ask of you, if you don't mind?"  
"A favor?" He blinked owlishly at her. This had to be some kind of trick.  
"Yes. Do you remember how I had to...uh...leave potions a little quickly this morning?"  
Severus nodded stiffly, the memory of her hasty retreat from Slughorn's class still fresh in his mind, so she continued. "Well since Lily took me to Madam Pomfry, neither of us was able to take any notes. She's borrowed some from her friend Agnes, but they weren't very detailed. And the other people from the class I asked all had rather large...gaps in the information they'd written down." She chuckled and Severus thought darkly that he knew exactly who _those_ notes must belong to. Adrianna's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, "So I was wondering if I could read your notes and see what I missed for the day? Only if you don't mind, of course! Lily said you're one of the best here at potions, so..."  
He felt as if his tongue had turned to sandpaper. "She said that?"  
The dark haired beauty nodded and gifted him with another smile. "Yep! So, if you don't mind me borrowing them, I could have them all read tonight and give them back to you tomorrow. Is that ok?" She looked at him quizzically.  
"Y...yes! Yes, that's fine." He dug into his bag and pulled out a large sheaf of notes. "You can keep them longer than that if you need...they're rather long..." Severus blushed at his own inability to speak clearly to her, and he just barely bit back a gasp when her warm fingers brushed against his cold ones as she took the parchment.  
"It's alright, really. I'll be able to get through them tonight." Adrianna assured him. "I don't really sleep much, so this will give me something to do."  
"You don't?" He asked curiously.  
She shook her head, obsidian curls brushed her face before settling back into place. "Most succubi can go months without sleep if need be, I only need two or three hours a night."  
"Oh...well...then...right..." Severus fought a losing battle to speak coherently. Thankfully, she relieved him from having to say much else.  
"Well, thank you Severus for letting me borrow these. I promise I'll take good care of them." Adrianna grinned one more time before continuing down the corridor, as a still slightly dumbstruck Severus Snape watched her walk away.

OOOOOOOOOO

The next morning found many of the students talking excitedly about the approaching start of the school Quidditch season. The first match of Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw was coming up in just a few weeks. James was huddled at the Gryffindor table with Sirius and the rest of the team going over strategies. While Remus and Peter were trying to figure out how to bewitch a large banner so that it alternately flashed between "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "ROUGH UP THOSE RAVENCLAWS!", but so far their words kept mixing themselves up. Adrianna giggled at their most recent attempt, which ended up spelling out "ROUGH GRYFFINDOR!", and excused herself to Lily to go return Severus' notes.

Looking out across the Great Hall, she finally spotted the slender Slytherin sitting at the very end of the table with several other fifth years. Making her way across the hall, Adrianna's 'succubus side' picked up each and every stare that followed her progress and she sighed internally, praying that everyone would get used to her being at Hogwarts sooner rather than later. As she approached the Slytherin table, Adrianna noticed that Severus wasn't really taking part of the conversation and that there was an empty seat next to him right at the end of the bench. Deciding to help herself to the seat, she slid into the spot next to him and placed his potions notes on the table.

"Hi!" She said brightly.

Severus promptly choked on his breakfast and turned a bright shade of scarlet. All of the Slytherins sitting around them stopped their conversations and stared. One, an olive skinned and slightly burly fifth year, openly leered at Adrianna. "So, what brings the lovely new _Gryffindor_ to our table, hmm?"

Adrianna regarded him coolly for a moment. "I'm returning Severus's notes." She said simply before turning to the slightly recovered boy on her left. "I'm sorry I've startled you yet again! Here are your notes back, although I did have one question…"

The leering boy across the table interrupted her. "I don't believe we've met yet, _I'm_ Evan Rosier." This was said with the air of someone who expects others to already know who he is.

"Oh," She tilted her head slightly. "Doesn't ring a bell. Anyway, Severus, my question was…" Adrianna gave her shell-shocked companion her full attention, and asked about a section he'd written that she hadn't quite understood.

Severus tried his best to remain coherent and answer her questions. Although it was becoming increasingly difficult between Rosier shooting him the glare of death from across the table, and the fact that a lock of Adrianna's soft hair kept brushing against his arm every time she leaned in to read something off of the parchment. Finally, he'd managed to clear up all of her queries without becoming too tongue-tied. She smiled at him and handed over the pages she'd been looking over one last time.

"Thanks again, I really appreciate it!" Adrianna moved to stand up, but her progress was cut off by an insulted and angry Evan Rosier.

"What's your hurry?" The large Slytherin's voice dripped venom. "Now that _Sev _here has been able to _help_ you out, why don't you stay a while and talk with _us_, eh?" He indicated himself and another Slytherin with beady eyes and a pockmarked face.

"Well," Adrianna braced her hands on the table and resumed her progress out of her seat. "As tempting as that _sounds_," Her cold tone was a world away from the warm manner with which she'd spoken to Snape. "I'm going to have to _pass_." Severus wasn't completely sure, but for a brief moment he swore he saw her eye color rapidly change from grey to silver and back again.

Rosier leaped out of his seat and sneered at her. "What, you think you're _too good_ to stay?"

"Evan," Severus said softly. "You can't make her stay if she doesn't want to."

"Oh, shut it!" Evan snapped. "Do you actually think…"  
"Is there a _problem_ here?" A hard voice spoke from behind Adrianna. Sirius moved to stand beside her, arms crossed, and glared at the Slytherins.

"Hi, Sirius!" Adrianna grinned up at the dark haired Gryffindor. "Nope, there's no problem here. I was just returning some notes I borrowed from Severus." She nodded at Snape and smiled reassuringly at him. Then she turned to Sirius, putting a hand on his arm. "Come on, we'd better get to Defense class." Adrianna steered the glowering Marauder away from the Slytherin table. Turning back, she gave Severus a little wave and herded Sirius into the growing crowd of students walking to class.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's** **Note:** Well, here we are again! I am so excited about the direction this story is taking! I hope everyone is enjoying, and if you are, please take the time to shoot a little review my way! It helps to know which aspects of a story people are enjoying most, etc.

Also, small Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, the characters, or anything else created by JK Rowling. I also do not own any of the songs or music artists mentioned in this story, and let's face it, if I owned CCR or Aerosmith I would have that fact spray painted on my car, ha! I do however take proud ownership of my OC's, and ask that no one use them without express permission from me.

Thanks again everyone! Enjoy!

Best,

Dragonwing

**Ch. 4 – Birthdays & School Spirit(s)**

It was only by chance that Adrianna's new friends learned that her birthday was going to take place on the Friday before the start of Quidditch season. Lily happened to see the date written on one of the many photos in the newest Gryffindor's photo album. Adrianna had tried to convince them that it wasn't necessary to celebrate that day, but eventually gave in when she realized they were going to do so whether she agreed or not. They were also surprised to discover that she would be turning sixteen that year, as opposed to just turning fifteen like the majority of the fifth years. She had explained that wizarding school started a year earlier in the States, so she'd already spent five years in school before transferring, but was on the same academic level as the Hogwarts fifth years.

That Friday turned out to be a wonderful October day, it also marked that it had been nearly a month since the half-succubus had come into their lives. The Marauders were making their way downstairs, discussing the upcoming Quidditch match and going over some secret plans they'd made to celebrate Adrianna's sixteenth birthday later that evening.

"I wonder if she got the presents we sent her?" Remus asked pleasantly, thinking of the special seasonal bar of Honeydukes chocolate that he'd picked out from his personal stash for the grey-eyed girl. The four boys had just reached the common room when their ears were assaulted by a loud scream of rage. A few white-faced third year girls raced down the steps and streaked towards the portal.

"What's wrong?" James shouted after them.

One of the girls took the time to poke her head back through the portrait hole and whisper nervously, "She's _really_ mad!" But before they could question the girl further, she zipped out of the common room after her friends.

"Absolutely _RIDICULOUS_!" A voice screamed from up in the girl's dormitory. "OF ALL THE STUPID…MORONIC…BRAINLESS…UGH!"

"That's Adrianna…" Sirius muttered worriedly. "What's going on?"

"Can we go check on her?" Peter squeaked.

"No…" James said. "Boys can't go into the girls' dorm."

"Yeah," Remus snorted. "I remember when _you_ tried to get in once."

Just then, they heard more footsteps stomping down the staircase to the common room. Adrianna appeared on the landing looking the angriest they'd ever seen her. Two blooms of color were spread across her cheeks and her grey eyes flashed. Held out in front of her, as if it was going to suddenly burst into flames, was a pillowcase stuffed to bursting with small packages. Adrianna's knuckles were white where she gripped her burden, her other hand was clamped tightly over her nose. She stormed past the stunned Marauders and threw the bundle down in front of the fireplace with a fierce growl. Drawing her wand, she shouted a spell and the fireplace burst into life. Kicking the top of the pillowcase open, she began levitating its contents out of the makeshift bag and into the fire, all the while muttering vehemently under her breath.

"Must think I'm some kind of _idiot_…_unbelievable_…surrounded by a bunch of _dumbasses_!" Another small package zoomed into the hearth and burst into flames.

None of the young men knew what to do, and were extremely grateful when Lily made her way to the common room, her arms laden with even more boxes of assorted sizes. While she wasn't angry like her friend, Lily did look quite harassed. Her red hair was frizzed out like a nervous cat's and she threw her own armful of packages onto the floor with more force than was necessary.

"Hey…uh…Evans?" James asked quietly. "What in _hell_ is going on?"

Lily pushed a handful of hair out of her face and pointed at the pile of boxes that was slowly being eaten by the fireplace. "_That_ is what's going on!" She whispered fiercely. "Poor Adrianna woke up to a _mountain_ of 'birthday presents' laced with love potions!" The green eyed girl glanced over to where the fuming half-succubus was still levitating packages with aggressive accuracy.

"No way!" Remus gapped. "Everyone in the school should know by now that those are dangerous for her!"

"Well apparently not." Lily sighed. "I think that's the last of them, but I'm going to go double check to be sure." She slipped back up the stairs. The boys looked at each other, concern written on all of their faces.

Sirius moved over to Adrianna, who was increasingly looking like she was going to throw up, and placed a cool hand on her wand arm.

"Let me do that." He said softly. "You don't need to be breathing this shit in."

Adrianna blinked at him for a moment before nodding, backing away and throwing open the tower window. She practically stuck her entire head out of the opening, breathing in as much fresh air as her lungs could take. Sirius dug into the pillowcase with his bare hands and began to toss in as many packages as he could at a time. He threw in chocolate cauldrons, pumpkin pasties, Honeydukes chocolate bars, toffees, chocolate frogs, and the list went on and on. Towards the bottom of the bag Sirius even pulled out what he recognized as a bottle very _expensive_ firewhisky, a brand he'd seen his father indulge in before.

"What a waste." He muttered darkly. Finally he tossed the last of the tainted gifts into the roaring fire, just as Lily came back downstairs to report that the remaining birthday presents were safe.

Adrianna returned from the window and sank heavily into a chair. "Thank you, everyone." She sighed. "Thank you for helping me get rid of all of _that_…" A slender hand gestured towards the fire. "And for being some of the only people who gave me _non_-poisonous birthday gifts." Her lips twisted wryly.

"Do you want to open your other ones?" Lily asked gently and sat down next to her. "I can bring them down here."

"Not right now, thank you." Adrianna shook her head and smiled tiredly. "I think I'm going to go outside and cool down a little more before we have to be in class."

"Alright," The redhead nodded. "Want me to go with you?"

"Sure." The two girls got up. "I'll see you guys later, ok? Thank you again." Adrianna's smile was a little sad as she and Lily disappeared out of the portrait hole.

James ground his fist into the arm of one of the chairs by the fire. "I wish we knew who all of those _gits_ were who thought they could actually do that and get away with it!"

"Well Prongs," Sirius growled. "Not all of those fucking poisoned boxes had names on them, but _some_ of them did." His smile was predatory and menacing. "And I remember every single one."

Moony looked nervously between Prongs and Padfoot, while Wormtail waited blankly to see which direction this was going to go.

"You're not going to _do_ anything to them, are you Pads? Prongs?" Remus asked, fiddling with the sleeve of his slightly shabby robe.

"Maybe," James replied lightly, but his eyes were hard. "But maybe not. C'mon, we've got some…_research_ to do before class." He led the way out of the common room, with the other Marauders close behind him.

News spread quickly of the multiple attempted poisonings that had kicked off Adrianna Fawley's birthday, and more than one male student stole sheepish glances at her while she tried to keep a morning glass of pumpkin juice down, hoping the cool liquid would settle her stomach. James and the others quickly noted which guilty looking faces matched the names Sirius memorized from the presents, and kept a running tally of which ones they were going to have a…talk with later.

Thankfully, by the time their first class of the day had ended, Adrianna was feeling much better. She smiled and thanked everyone who wished her a happy birthday in between classes, and even gave a particularly nervous Gryffindor first year a light kiss on the cheek for the handmade card he shakily handed to her as she was walking out of Defense Against the Dark Arts. If the boy's friends hadn't been there to support him, it was likely he would have collapsed onto the floor right then and there.

"Guess I should have made you a card then too, eh?" Sirius chuckled lowly from behind her. Adrianna rolled her eyes and swatted him with a quill.

"I'm not feeling _that_ nice, you silly boy." She smirked. The dark haired Gryffindor merely shrugged and continued on beside her.

It was soon apparent that Peeves the Poltergeist was particularly excited about celebrating Adrianna's birthday. Every time she walked through the halls between classes the little man floated above her head belting out an energetic rendition of "Happy Birthday Pretty Lady!" while scattering confetti that looked suspiciously like it used to be some poor student's homework. After each loud performance, Peeves would sweep his hat off and bow low to Adrianna who, in turn, would grin and spread her robes into a curtsy.

"Why, _thank you_ Peeves darling!" She cooed after the fourth serenade. "This has been the most _memorable_ birthday I've ever had!" The poltergeist whooped happily and sped off down the hall, throwing left over confetti rather roughly at random students. "He tries so hard," Adrianna laughed after seeing the incredulous look Lily gave her. "You can't hate him for that."

That evening after dinner, Lily asked Adrianna to walk to the library with her to return a book she'd checked out from Madam Pince. The two girls talked amiably as they made their way back to the Gryffindor common room.

"I still feel so horrible about what happened to you this morning!" Lily huffed as they approached the fat lady's portrait. "The _nerve _of some people!"

"Well, it's alright now." Adrianna assured her. "Nothing terrible came out of it, and things could have been a lot worse."

"True." The redhead nodded before giving the password to the fat lady. "Pinkerton."

"Exactly!" The portrait winked at them and swung open. The two girls walked in and were immediately met with a deafening chorus of "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

It was as if every single student in Gryffindor House had stuffed themselves into the common room. There were red and gold streamers floating along the ceiling and down the walls, large white candles taking up every available space they could for added light, and a delicious looking cake with _'Happy Birthday Adrianna!'_ written on it in red icing. Adrianna's smile was radiant as she was swept up by her Housemates to join the party.

Late that night, after everything had wound down and the exhausted Gryffindors went to bed, Adrianna sat on her own canopied four-poster bed and surveyed her small pile of non-poisonous birthday gifts.

Lily had given her a lovely scarf in Gryffindor red and gold to wear now that the weather was turning chilly. James and Sirius had gone in together and gotten her a book all about famous female Quidditch players, inside of which she'd found a handmade card with a suggestive _'Better late than never!'_ written in Sirius' scrawled handwriting. Arianna had chuckled at that and tucked the card back into the book. Remus had gifted her with a bar of chocolate from his personal collection, and she immediately knew what to get the kind werewolf for Christmas later that year. Peter had sent a bag of toffees, with a note saying that they were his favorite and that if she didn't like them he would gladly eat them for her. There were a few other tokens and cards from other friends she'd made so far, and a horribly banged up silver teapot that was apparently from Peeves the Poltergeist. There was something engraved on the bottom of the teapot, but Adrianna couldn't make it out. She was just about to _lumos_ her wand to get a better look when another, small package caught her eye.

_'I didn't see that one this morning,'_ She mused, picking it up. _'But then again I was a little…distracted.'_

The box fit easily into her palm and was wrapped in emerald green paper with a silver ribbon. There was no tag saying who had sent the gift, but Adrianna suddenly had a feeling she knew who it was from. Carefully, she untied the ribbon and removed the green paper. The box inside was black with a little bronze clasp holding it shut. She gently pried it open and let out a small gasp. Inside, was a small silver chain only long enough to fit around her wrist or perhaps through a belt loop, and hanging from it was a tiny, round, silver charm with a rune engraved into the metal. At the bottom of the box was a small slip of parchment, Adrianna laid the bracelet on her bedspread and opened the note. In tiny, precise writing were the words, _'To ward off love potions – Just in case.'_

There was no greeting, no signature, nor any other indication that this gift was meant to be anything other than anonymous. With a small smile playing on her lips, Adrianna moved the rest of her birthday gifts to the night table, fastened the silver charm to her wrist, and climbed under the comforter. She already knew she wouldn't be sleeping any that night, her succubus side was too energized from all of the events of the day. Instead she gazed at the starry sky that she could just barely see out of the window near her bed. Listening to the sounds of Lily and the other three girls who shared their room sleeping, Adrianna lay there absorbing the sounds of the night and feeling the cool silver wrapped around her wrist.

OOOOOOOOOO

The morning of the first Quidditch match of the season dawned bright and clear. There was just enough of a chill on the air to feel exhilarating without actually being too cold. Many of the students had arrived to breakfast as early as possible, particularly the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, to prepare for the match that would start just before noon. Remus and Peter had finally managed to get their large banner to behave, as it alternately flashed "GO GRYFFINDOR" and "ROUGH UP THOSE RAVENCLAWS" in gold and red letters. Lily and Adrianna made their way to their end of the table just as Remus was rolling up the banner to carry outside.

"Morning!" The dark-haired girl waved. "Nice banner."

"Good morning!" Remus grinned. "Hey, nice hair!" He nodded at the bright red streak that now wove though the portion of Adrianna's curls that curved around the side of her face.

"Thanks! Lily helped me figure out how to do it." She playfully tugged a lock of her friend's naturally red hair.

"Looks good!" Peter agreed. "We're going to need all the support we can get today."

"Why is that?" Adrianna asked as she and Lily, or mostly Lily, began to eat.

Remus sighed and shouldered his rolled up sign. "Well, we may have an overall better chemistry as a team, and definitely James is the best Seeker in the school," Peter nodded vigorously in agreement while Lily rolled her eyes. "But Ravenclaw's Chasers are some of the best either team's ever seen. There are not many people who feel one hundred percent confident that we'll win today." The werewolf grinned again, "We'll just have to do the best we can. See you down there!" He and Peter made their way out of the Great Hall.

"Hmm…" Adrianna mulled thoughtfully while Lily finished her breakfast.

"What are you thinking?" Lily asked. She'd grown to recognize that look on Adrianna's face.

"I just had a thought," The other girl muttered. "What if there was a way we could get a little more _spirit_ going on the Gryffindor side today?"

"How would we do that?" The redhead asked suspiciously before draining the last of her pumpkin juice.

"Well," Adrianna smiled slyly. "It's something we would do back at Salem if it looked like a team wasn't getting much support…More support from the fans makes the teams want to play better, right?"

"Right…" Lily giggled. "So what would you do?"

"Come on!" She grabbed Lily's hand and pulled the other girl out of the Great Hall. "We don't have much time, but I think this will work!" The two girls disappeared out the door, leaving several other students staring confusedly after them.

It was almost time for the start of the Quidditch match and the air within the playing field seemed to vibrate with excitement. One side of the stands was a solid wall of red and gold, while the other was a veritable sea of purple. Remus and Peter had saved the two girls seats with them in the front row, but so far had seen no sign of them. The young werewolf was beginning to worry that they were going to miss the start of the game when they finally appeared, each struggling under the weight of a heavily packed school bag.

"What's going on?" Remus asked, confused. Surely they weren't going to try to do school work up in the stands during a Quidditch match?

"Don't worry," Adrianna beamed at him after depositing her bundle on the floor in front of their seats. "It's just a little team spirit." She winked, leaving him even more confused than when she'd first arrived.

Madam Hooch stepped out to the middle of the pitch to meet James and the Ravenclaw captain, Howard Davison. The two boys shook hands roughly and mounted their brooms as Madam Hooch released the Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch into the air.

"And they're off!" Shouted the announcing student, Gryffindor Frank Longbottom's, voice. "And it looks like the Gryffindor Chaser Andrew Johnson has quickly picked up the Quaffle…Oh! Nice dodge there Johnson! Watch out for those Bludgers…"

And so the match went for the first ten minutes or so, neither team was able to score and the Quaffle changed hands so often that Longbottom resorted to just calling out players' last names to keep up. "There's Johnson…No wait, now Blakely…Oops, back to Johnson again…Oi! Watch it, you!" One of the Ravenclaw Beaters had accidentally sent a Bludger hurling towards the Gryffindor seating area, thankfully Sirius was quick enough to zoom up on his broom and swat the offending projectile back into play. "Nice one, Sirius!" Longbottom whooped.

After nearly half an hour of play, Ravenclaw managed to score the first goal of the match, bringing great cheers from the sea of purple across the way and groans from the watching Gryffindors. Adrianna decided that it was finally time to try out her team spirit booster. Nudging Lily, she nodded down at the bags by their feet and the two girls quickly set to work. Out of Adrianna's bag they pulled the Muggle record player sent by her parents earlier that term. Remus, Peter and several others watch curiously as they secured the player to the railing on the front of the stands. Then, they searched quickly through the small stack of records that Lily had pulled from her bag until finding what they wanted. Adrianna cleaned off the black disc with her sleeve before placing it onto the turnstile and setting the needle in place. Just before they turned the player on, Lily pointed her want at its speaker and whispered "_Sonorous_!"

The dark haired girl grinned at her friend and crossed her fingers for luck before flipping on the magically operated power switch. A low hum of music began to make its way out of the record player, steadily getting louder as it progressed. Then, just as the humming stopped and the guitars and drums took over in the background, a raspy voice began to boom out of the record player.

"Sweeeeeeeet Emooootioooon! Sweeeeeeet Emoootioooon!"

"Yes!" Adrianna and Lily high-fived as the music swelled louder. All of the Muggle-borns and many of the half-bloods in the Gryffindor side of the stands instantly recognized the song as Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion". At first, after some initial confusion, many of them began to clap and sing along to the upbeat tempo. Pretty soon nearly everyone in the Gryffindor side of the stadium was either singing, or clapping, or jumping up and down to the song. The Quidditch match itself had paused briefly when the music first started, but then had quickly gotten back underway when an errant Bludger had nearly unseated Madam Hooch. Adrianna had charmed the record needle to jump right back to the beginning just as the song was ending, causing the students in the stands to go even wilder at the chance to sing the song again. It was like the Gryffindor team began feeding off of the excess excitement coming from their supporters. Andrew Johnson and Donna Bellows, another Chaser, quickly each scored a goal, putting Gryffindor ahead of Ravenclaw. James was doing loop-the-loops through the air on his broom as he kept an eye out for the Golden Snitch, and the Gryffindor Keeper Florence Simpkins, who happened to be a Muggle-born, kept bursting into song as soon as the Quaffle was headed away from the goals she was guarding.

Before long, the Gryffindors were up sixty points to twenty. The Ravenclaws on the other side of the pitch were quickly becoming irate, as were the Slytherins sitting with them, because of course they were going to support any team playing against Gryffindor. Finally, after a Ravenclaw Chaser became so distracted by the Gryffindors that he let the Quaffle hit him right in the face, Howard Davison practically screamed at Madam Hooch for a time out. The perplexed Quidditch teacher complied and blew her whistle loudly. Lily murmured a spell to lower the volume of the record player, which had just been switched over to Creedance Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou", but still keep it loud enough for the students to hear.

After a quick, heated conference between Madam Hooch, James, and Davison, Sirius took off up towards the stands to hover grinning in front of Adrianna and his friends.

"This is bloody brilliant, Adrianna!" The handsome Beater crowed. "But Madam Hooch wants to have a word with you for a second."

"She does?" Adrianna arched an eyebrow. "Ok, I'll be right down."

"No need to climb all the way down, come on." Sirius gripped her forearm and helped her hop over the guard rail and onto the back of his broom. "Hold on!" He called as he sped away from the stands back to the players now standing on the field. Adrianna laughed and gripped his waist as they quickly descended. She still hadn't had a chance to really be on a broom since arriving at Hogwarts, and had forgotten how exhilarating it was to fly through the air like that. All too quickly they'd landed by the referee and two captains, and just as she'd climbed off of the broom they were also joined by a flustered looking Professor McGonagall.

"What on earth is going on?" The Transfiguration teacher gasped.

"It's that bloody Muggle contraption she's brought out here!" Davison barked, glaring at Adrianna. "It's distracting us so bad we can hardly play."

Adrianna assumed a look of complete innocence that made Sirius snigger until James elbowed him in the ribs. "I was just doing what we'd do back at Salem Academy to give our side a little team spirit!" She exclaimed breathily. "Is it against the rules to play music to encourage our team?"

"Well, no…" Madam Hooch muttered. "I've just never seen anything like this in my time at Hogwarts."

"So you can't even make her stop?" The Ravenclaw captain demanded.

"Doesn't sound like it, mate." James grinned.

"Ugh!" Davison threw his hands in the air. "Fine! But we might as well bloody give up now and let them bloody have it!"

"Mr. Davison! Language!" Professor McGonagall admonished. The Ravenclaw stalked away to gather his team again with Madam Hooch not far behind him. The Gryffinors openly grinned at Adrianna, but quickly composed themselves when their Head of House turned around.

"Well, Miss Fawley." Professor McGonagall turned sternly. "You have just single-handedly caused such a commotion that half the Ravenclaw team would rather forfeit than continue playing." Adrianna thought she saw the barest hint of a smile tug at her Head of House's lips. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Adrianna placed her hands on her hips and grinned at the seething Ravenclaw captain's retreating back. "_Damn_, I'm good."

OOOOOOOOOO

After the match of Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw, which the Gryffindors won by an obscene number of points, Adrianna and Lily made it their mission to set up the magically enhanced record player on whichever team's side of the stands that they happened to be rooting for. Having Remus and Peter to assist them also proved most helpful, as Adrianna found that she had to bring more and more of her records out to the Quidditch pitch with her so that she could have the best selection to choose from. Since Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" was such a hit for bolstering the Gryffindors, she also felt that she would find success playing "Walk This Way" when Hufflepuff played Slytherin two weeks later, and was not disappointed. While ultimately the Hufflepuffs didn't win that match, they were still in such a good mood from how well they'd played that an outsider would have thought the Slytherins were the losers.

The time came shortly after for the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match, which would be the last match before Christmas break, and Adrianna felt the need to make peace with the still slightly disgruntled Davison. There was almost a hush in the crowd when the studious Ravenclaws saw the half-succubus setting up her record player on their side of the pitch. She carefully chose a record from the selection Remus held out for her, and the Muggle-born Ravenclaws immediately began cheering when the first striking chords of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" came blasting out of the machine. Davison even gave her a grinning salute as he sailed by on his broom to get in position for the match to start. Ravenclaw ended up beating Slytherin by fifty points that day, and many of them could be heard singing The Who's lyrics in the corridors throughout the next week.

It was exactly one week after the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match, and a mere two weeks until the start of the Christmas holiday, that Adrianna experienced her first truly negative encounter at Hogwarts. It was a moment that she had, unfortunately, been anticipating to happen at some point. Being half succubus was bound to bring her some hostile attention sooner or later.

Adrianna and Lily were walking amiably down the sixth floor corridor on their way to lunch. Sunlight was streaming in through the many windows giving them some much needed extra warmth in the chilly castle. The girls were chatting excitedly about their plans for the holiday, when they suddenly found their path blocked by an angry and rather beastly looking seventh year Slytherin girl.

"You!" The girl pointed a shaking finger in the dark-haired girl's face. "You _slut_!"

Adrianna kept her expression carefully blank and regarded the other girl calmly. "Excuse me?"

"Oi! You heard me!" The girl spat, as Lily looked worriedly at the livid seventh year and also at the growing crowd they were attracting. "You stay away from my boyfriend!"

"I'm sorry," Adrianna said slowly. "But I'm afraid I don't even know who your boyfriend is. Have you suggested that he go see Madam Pomfry?"

The Slytherin girl's face was steadily turning a vivid shade of maroon. "He won't go! Says he doesn't _need_ to go! Says all he needs is _you_! You…" Tears began to trickle out of her beady eyes and suddenly there was a wand sticking in Adrianna's face. "_SLUT!_" An audible gasp went through the group of students watching. They wanted to intervene, but also didn't want to cause the irate girl to accidentally hurt the half-succubus.

Taking a deep breath, Adrianna looked carefully from the girl's face to her wand and back again. "Now, that's not a very nice thing to say. As I said, I'm afraid I've never even met any of the Slytherin seventh years, so this is all in your boyfriend's head. Bring Madam Pomfry to him if you have to…"

"Oi!" Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter had just come upon the disturbance in the hallway. "What the bloody hell is going on here?" Sirius growled, his wand pointed at the taller Slytherin girl's head. The other Marauders spread out behind the two Gryffindor girls, wands trained on Adrianna's would-be attacker.

"Everything is fine," Adrianna said calmly, just barley turning her head to look at the boys, her slender hands held up in a supplicating gesture to the other girl. "It's just a little misunderstanding…"

"BITCH! You're lying! This is _all your fault_!" The seventh year jerked her wand back in an attempt to cast a spell on the younger girl. Immediately the Marauders, Lily, and several other students had their wands on the Slytherin. It was a moment when a countless number of horrible accidents could occur, given the number of wands pointed on a specific spot in a narrow corridor. However, in the tense second that passed between the Slytherin girl pulling her wand back and the other students training their wands on her, a loud, completely foreign sound perforated the air. It sounded like a cross between a crazed battle cry and a two-year-old blowing a raspberry. Everyone in the hallway instantly looked up, and Adrianna quickly chose to take several large steps back as Peeves the Poltergeist dumped an entire bucket of red paint onto the irate girl's head. The large girl stood there in shock, covered from head to toe in paint, and gawked at the Poltergeist hovering near the ceiling.

"You will _not_ speak to the Pretty Lady that way!" Peeves called down angrily. "Peevsie will not tolerate his Pretty Lady being called such things!" Out of a pocket in his little jacket he drew out a handful of feathers that likely had come from a common room sofa. With terrific accuracy, Peeves began pelting the paint covered seventh year with handfuls of fluff, which stuck to the red paint and made the girl look more and more like a deranged chicken. The Slytherin girl finally recovered from her shock, uttered a loud shriek, and took off down the corridor with Peeves close behind, pulling yet more feathers out of his pockets to add to the mess. His cackling voice echoed down the stone hallway, "Yes, yes! Peevsie will teach you to be _nice_ to the Lady!"

Slowly, the perplexed crowd of students began to move through the hallway again, many of them unsure of what exactly had just occurred. Shakily, Lily put her wand back into her robes and smoothed her red hair, checking for any paint that might have splattered.

"Alright, Evans?" James asked as the Marauders closed in to the side of the corridor where the two girls had moved.

"Yeah, I think so." Lily nodded, green eyes flashing. "That crazy cow came out of _nowhere_!"

"Adrianna?" Sirius suddenly asked, concern clearly heavy in his voice.

Everyone looked over to where the dark-haired beauty had taken a seat on a nearby window bench. Her head was buried in her hands and her shoulders were visibly shaking.

"Adrianna?" Remus inched forward and sat slowly beside her. "It's ok, really it is. We know you didn't do anything wrong." He looked worriedly at the others when she didn't respond right away, but then, he picked up a hoarse whisper coming from the girl.

"I can't…I can't…" She murmured, head still hidden in her hands.

"You can't…what?" Lily asked tensely.

"I can't…" Adrianna's head slowly lifted up. Though a curtain of obsidian curls they saw that her grey eyes were shining and that the shaking they'd originally took for crying was actually…laughter? The half-succubus took in a deep breath and began laughing out loud. "I can't _breathe_!" She chortled, as tears streamed down her face and she tried to cover her mouth again to stifle her laughter. "That was one of the funniest things I've seen in my life!"

James was the first to crack up at the realization that a situation that could have ended very badly, actually turned out to be pretty hilarious. He began to chuckle, and then to laugh so hard that he had to hold his stomach to stop his abdominal muscles from clenching. They were quickly joined by Sirius, Remus, and Peter's laughs. Even Lily giggled a bit over the absurd way Peeves had come to Adrianna's rescue.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** And we just keep rolling along! Once again, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters, places, etc. created by the fabulous Ms. JK Rowling! I do however take proud ownership of my own characters and ask that you please do not use them without my permission. And now, on with the story!

Best,

Dragonwing

**Ch. 5 – A Slughorn Christmas**

At long last, the final week before the students' Christmas break arrived. Classes were merely a formality at this point, as most of the students were too preoccupied with getting ready to leave for the holiday to bother paying attention. Adrianna was just finishing breakfast, this being one of the few days when she felt the need to actually eat a full meal, when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

"Adrianna?" A second year Ravenclaw girl asked nervously. "I have a note for you from Professor Slughorn."

She turned and smiled at the girl, "Thank you, I appreciate it." The girl gave a slight smile and scurried back to her own table. Adrianna looked at the envelope. It was made of thick, creamy parchment with her name written in an elegant script on the front. Opening it, she drew out an embossed invitation to a Holiday tea being hosted by Slughorn for the following evening after dinner.

"Do I really have to go?" Adrianna asked, wrinkling her nose and rereading the invitation again before tossing it onto the table.

"It would probably be best to go ahead and get it out of the way." Lily giggled, but she felt sorry for her friend just the same.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, picking up the discarded invite. "Just go ahead and let him get it over with, and then hopefully you won't have to worry about it anymore."

"That sounds suspiciously like a talk I was forced to have with my aunt once." Adrianna muttered darkly. James immediately choked on his drink and pumpkin juice poured out of his nose. Remus turned a bright shade of red and buried his face into his book with a yelp. Peter just barely managed to not fall out of his seat, and Lily was laughing so hard her face soon matched her hair.

Sirius looked momentarily confused, until the hidden meaning of what Adrianna had said finally dawned on him. He stared at her with his mouth open until she too burst out laughing. Sirius ran a hand through his long hair and added his barking laugh to the group. All along the Gryffindor table people were turning their heads to see what all the noise was about, and at the staff table Professor Dumbledore smiled serenely before turning to Professor McGonagall.

"Ah, the laughter of our students!" He said, blue eyes twinkling. "Is there any sound more wonderful?"

OOOOOOOOOO

It was official, Severus Snape was in hell. Or at least that's how it felt at this point. He sneered at the first year Slytherin who delivered the invitation to Slughorn's blasted Christmas party, and looked up just in time to see Adrianna Fawley receiving the same thing.

_'Perfect…'_ He thought darkly. Things in his life had been complicated enough before the breathtaking half-witch showed up at Hogwarts only a few months ago. It was already hard enough to realize that Lily, his precious Lily, was drifting away from him and headed on a collision course towards James Bloody Potter. But now he was also finding himself drawn to the ethereal new Gryffindor and he couldn't see any way out of it. He'd even gone so far to send her a charm to ward off love potions for her birthday, after hearing about the unbelievable number of idiots who sent her tainted gifts _knowing_ that she was allergic! At first he'd felt like a fool for doing so, but the following Monday in potions class he'd sneaked his customary look at the table that managed to hold both Lily and Adrianna in all their glory, and had seen the charm fastened securely around her slender wrist. His heart had felt a joyous tug at the sight, but then he'd reminded himself that she didn't even know who it was from, and was probably just grateful to have the extra protection. Then there was that awful day when a seventh year Slytherin girl was ready to murder her. Severus had pulled his wand out the minute that bull of a girl had started screaming into Adrianna's face, though thankfully they were all saved from having to perform any hexes by the dratted poltergeist. '_Even_ Peeves_, of all creatures, adores her._' He'd thought warily.

It wasn't like he was in constant contact with either girl. Lily still acknowledged him occasionally, at least when she wasn't being followed around by a drooling Potter and his band of arrogant prats. He didn't speak to Adrianna much either, their longest conversations had taken place the week she'd borrowed and returned his notes, but still whenever she saw him the grey-eyed girl would give him a smile or a wave regardless of who else was around. He didn't deny that it gave him no small amount of satisfaction to see the glowering look on Sirius Black's face the last time Adrianna had gifted him with a smile in between classes. It was so confusing…what interest could one of the most beautiful creatures to ever set foot in this Salazar forsaken school have in _him_?

_'Perhaps she is merely as kind as she looks.'_ Severus had told himself for the hundredth time. He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, resigned to spending yet another evening at one of his Head of House's get-togethers. A sudden burst of laughter from the other end of the Great Hall drew his attention up. There was Adrianna, Lily, Potter and his friends laughing hysterically over some nonsense. His hands clenched themselves into fists as Evan Rosier leaned over and muttered in his ear.

"Doesn't really matter _what_ was said, now does it? The way _that_ girl looks, they'd laugh even if she'd said the stupidest joke on earth."

Severus was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the way Rosier looked at and spoke about Adrianna. He also noticed that his leering year mate had also received an invitation to Slughorn's tea. Answering the waiting Slytherin with a noncommittal grunt, he gathered up his belongings and left the Great Hall as quickly as he could, trying to banish thoughts of both Lily and Adrianna from his mind.

OOOOOOOOOO

Adrianna took a deep breath as she pushed open the door to the classroom Professor Slughorn had reserved for his Christmas tea. She was used to people staring at her or asking slightly awkward questions about her heritage, but it was something else altogether to be paraded around like a show dog by someone like Slughorn. But, she was determined to be as polite as possible and then make a quick escape as soon as she could.

"Ah! Miss Fawley!" Slughorn spotted her right away and quickly corralled her with a hand on her elbow. "I'm so pleased you were able to make it to my little gathering! Hopefully the first of many while you're in school with us I'm sure!"

She smiled politely but didn't respond, there didn't seem to be much of a point as they were still mobile.

"Here we are!" The portly potions master brought them to a stop in front of two slightly older wizards, one of whom eyed her with curiosity while the other, unfortunately, was unsuccessfully trying to cover up the look of lust that had immediately hit him upon her arrival. Adrianna sighed internally, _'Another dirty old man. Great.'_

"Miss Fawley, may I introduce Mr. Wilbur Mathers and Mr. Stephan Smith? These two gentlemen work very closely with the Minister of Magic, and I believe also have done business with your illustrious uncle, Mr. Josiah Fawley."

"Pleased to meet you," She smiled. Mr. Mathers, the curious one, smiled back while Mr. Smith, the horny one, tried not to drool.

"I do trust your uncle Josiah is doing well?" Slughorn gushed.

Adrianna nodded. "As far as I know he is, Professor. I've only met Uncle Josiah once, you see, but I think he is doing quite well."

"Only once?" The potions master looked a little disappointed, but quickly perked up. "But of course! You spent your childhood in America, so you wouldn't have had much contact with your father's family. Completely understandable." He nodded wisely as if this solved everything. Slughorn then grabbed a plate from a passing house elf and offered it to her. "Now _this_, Miss Fawley, is my absolute favorite treat! Crystallized pineapple! One bite and you will be hooked for sure, my dear, I guarantee it!"

Adrianna took one look at the sugar coated yellow squares and knew immediately she wouldn't be able to eat them. "Well, thank you, sir, but I really couldn't…"

"Nonsense!" Slughorn practically shoved the plate at her. "A little treat at Christmastime never hurt anyone!"

"Professor." She said with a little more force than originally intended. "Please excuse me sir, but, _succubi_ do not _eat_. While I will occasionally eat a little bit, I can assure you that, at this moment, if I were to accept what you are offering I would become quite sick." Adrianna pointedly, but gently, pushed the plate of crystallized pineapple back into Slughorn's fat hands.

The professor had the good grace to appear slightly flustered. "Ah! So sorry, dear girl! I hadn't realized…Well, ahem, please to enjoy the rest of the party. I really should go greet young Mr. Abernathy, his grandfather was a most respected member of…" Slughorn drifted away towards his next victim and she quickly excused herself from the other older wizards' company.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Adrianna began scanning the room in search of a familiar face. Finally, over in a secluded corner, she spotted Severus. He looked completely ill at ease, his long fingers wrapped tightly around the cup of tea in front of him and wearing an expression that was clearly meant to deter anyone from approaching him.

_'Oh, well.'_ She thought with a giggle. _'I haven't spoken to him lately. He'll just have to deal with me for a little while.'_ And she began to weave her way across the room towards him.

Severus was indeed feeling quite miserable. He detested these "Slug Club" events that the potions master insisted on having. It was nothing but a blatant attempt to absorb as much power and influence as he could without doing any actual work. He'd seen old Slughorn corner Miss Fawley early on and felt the briefest twinges of sympathy for her. But nothing at the moment was going to persuade him to give up his private little corner of the room. The Slytherin was too busy with his own morbid thoughts to notice that the self-same half-succubus had finally managed to escape Slughorn's grasp and was swiftly making her way right towards him.

"Thank goodness!" Adrianna gasped, sitting gracefully in the vacant seat next to Severus. "I thought I'd _never_ get away from him."

Severus gaped at her before quickly regaining some of his composure. "Yeah…Slughorn is…um…"

"Obsessive." She nodded sagely. "Also suffers from selective hearing."

He allowed himself a small chuckle at Adrianna's very accurate observation. However he soon found himself wondering, yet again, what on earth possessed her to willingly sit and talk with him. Was it just to escape Slughorn? Did she want help with something else? Based on the previous five years at Hogwarts, not to mention most of his life before that, it just didn't make any sense!

Severus stared at her perfect profile for a long moment before finally blurting out, "Why are you here?"

Adrianna looked over at him, puzzled. "I was invited, unfortunately." She smiled and shook her head as if the answer were obvious.

"No…" He immediately regretted his outburst, but there was no turning back now. "I mean, what are you doing _here_…Talking to _me_?"

She tilted her head slightly to one side, giving him that calculating look that made him feel as though she could see right through him. "Why wouldn't I talk to you? We're friends, aren't we?"

Severus was suddenly doing a very convincing impersonation of a Slytherin goldfish, his mouth opening and closing several times before finally slamming shut. "We _are_?" He asked hoarsely.

Adrianna grinned and nodded. "Sure. _I_ thought we were, anyway. That is, if you'd like to be?"

Unable to trust his mouth to respond properly, Severus managed to give her the slightest of nods before gluing his eyes on his now cold cup of tea.

Adrianna watched as his long fingers twisted around each other, like a nest of white snakes battling for dominance. She had such a hard time reading the young Slytherin sometimes. He obviously wanted to be her friend, but seemed like he had no clue how to do so. After looking around to make sure no one was paying their corner of the room any attention, Adrianna leaned over and whispered so that only he could hear. "Hey, would you like to see something one of my aunts taught me how to do this year?"

Severus looked up at her dumbly while his brain processed her question. Finally, he answered. "I…uh…sure, alright."

Grinning Adrianna cast one more look around the room. "Ok, but please don't tell anyone about it, alright, especially Slughorn. I feel like enough of a trick pony around him as it is." She made a face and Severus smiled wryly. Then he looked down to where she had brought one of her hands palm up into her lap under the table. At first he didn't know what he was supposed to be looking at, until he just barely began to make out a faint silver light gathering in her palm. The light slowly spread out to her fingers, becoming more solid and viscous until it resembled silver smoke, curling itself around her knuckles. Slowly, Adrianna brought her hand up to the table and touched one slender fingertip against the side of his teacup. He watched wide-eyed as the amber liquid began to quake, then tremble, and finally bubble as it was carefully heated back up. Steam began to waft up out of the cup, bringing with it the renewed aroma of hot tea.

Severus looked back up at her. "How did you…"

"Succubus magic." She murmured, not taking her eyes off of her handiwork. When she was satisfied her fingers curled into a fist, quelling the silver smoke and pulling the light back into her skin. "My aunts still aren't sure which succubus traits I'll end up with over time, or which ones will stick, this is a new one." Adrianna pulled her hand back into her lap and grinned proudly at him.

"That was…" Severus searched for the proper words. He felt so unbelievably honored that she would trust him enough to show him that. _'Incredible.'_ The Slytherin thought. _'Yes, that's the word for it.'_

He was about to tell her as much when a dark shadow suddenly loomed over their private world. They both looked up to see Evan Rosier, arms crossed and smirking down at them.

"And what's going on over _here_?" He asked slyly. "She seems to spend a lot of time tracking you _down_, Severus, I wonder why that is?"

Severus blushed furiously and stared down at the clenched fists in his lap. Rosier could be such an arrogant git sometimes. He looked up, startled, when Adrianna laughed nonchalantly and placed a warm hand on his wrist. The charm he'd given her slid down and clunked softly against his protruding wrist bone.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" She drawled. Did he just hear right? Adrianna Bloody Fawley was _drawling_ like a Slytherin! The girl smiled at him before looking back up at Rosier. "Severus and I are _friends_. Besides he's the only other person I know at this…function, interesting as it is."

Rosier glowered for a moment, obviously perturbed that his original insult didn't get very far. But then he smoothed his face back into an arrogant sneer and leaned over the small table, closer to Adrianna's composed face. "Well, my pretty Gryffindor, if you like talking in dark corners with Slytherin _friends_ so much, then why don't you come join me?"

Severus felt a knot of anger clench in his stomach. Rosier had no _right_ to invade her personal space that way! He was just about to draw his wand, regardless of the later consequences, when he saw that same flash of silver briefly move through Adrianna's eyes. The hair on the back of Severus' neck suddenly stood up. He had never been around an actual succubus before, but he suddenly had a feeling that flash of color meant her succubus side was about to show itself.

"No thank you," She said coolly, keeping her gaze locked on Rosier's. "I'd much rather stay here, with Severus." Her Slytherin companion wanted to feel shocked yet again, but at the moment he was distracted by the fact that her pale skin seemed to be taking on a soft glow.

Rosier snorted, oblivious to the changes happening in the young woman in front of him. "Yes I'm sure you would," He leered. "_Anything_ to make him _happy_ so you can keep 'borrowing' his work…" Evan's voice suddenly lodged in his throat, his eyes bulged slightly out of their sockets.

Severus blinked, wondering if he had accidentally cast a silencing spell without his wand. It was then that he looked over and saw that Adrianna's eyes had changed completely to the silver shade he'd glimpsed earlier. Her pupils had elongated, somewhat like a cat's, her already red lips looked as though someone had painted them with fresh blood, and her skin was now emitting a soft, steady glow. He glanced nervously around before realizing that Rosier's bulk was hiding these changes from the rest of the room, and nobody seemed inclined to even glance at their corner. Looking back over, Severus saw that Evan's jaw and gone slack and his eyes had taken on a glassy quality. Adrianna's next words sent an unbidden chill to run down his spine.

"That was _extremely _rude of you, Evan Rosier." She hissed softly, silver eyes flashing up at him. Severus fought internally with the instinct to get as far away from her as possible, and with the rational thought that this anger wasn't even directed at him, in fact it was _defending_ him. Adrianna continued, "You will _never_ say such things to Severus nor to me again, do you understand?" The hypnotized Slytherin nodded dumbly. "Good. Now, I want you to turn around and go join the party. You will not even _look_ in this direction again for the rest of the night." Severus felt a wave of magic roll off of her as she glared at Rosier for another tense moment. It was enough to make him feel slightly dizzy. She finally decided to release the other boy. "Now, _go away_." Adrianna spat.

"Yes…yes…" Evan turned mechanically, wove his way back through the crowd and disappeared from sight.

Severus sat gaping after Rosier's retreating back before a long sigh next to him brought his attention back. Adrianna had rested her elbows on the low table and buried her face into her hands. He had absolutely no clue what to say, so he waited silently for her to speak again.

Finally, he heard a weary, muffled voice from somewhere behind her fingers. "I _hate_ doing that." She sighed again and sat up, without opening her eyes, to lean back in her seat. "I told myself I wasn't going to do that unless I absolutely had to." Adrianna let her head hit the back of her chair softly. "I lost my temper…I'm sorry."

"You…lost your _temper_?" Severus blinked owlishly at her. "If that was losing your temper, I'd hate to see what it looks like when you get really angry."

She chuckled, still kept her eyes closed, and shook her head. "No, you wouldn't."

He was quiet for a few minutes before turning back to her. "What did you do to him? It wasn't Legilimency, and it wasn't an Imperious…"

Finally, Adrianna opened her eyes, which had returned to their normal stormy grey. She sighed yet again. "I glamoured him…It's what succubi do to…to get their way, basically. My aunts taught me how in case I needed it…but I don't like doing it."

"But…you made it look so…so easy. He never stood a chance." Severus breathed. The possibilities of having such an ability suddenly raced through his mind, whether he wanted them or not. No wonder succubi had always had such an…interesting reputation.

"Succubus magic is very _old_, Severus." Her voice became very serious and very quiet. "The succubi were around long before the wizards and witches could even control their powers, let alone accomplish all that they have now. If a powerful enough succubus wants her way in something…I don't think there's a spell in the world that could change it."

"I had never thought of that," His voice became slightly excited. "Do you have any idea what you could do…" Severus stopped cold at the foreboding look Adrianna shot him.

"Yes, I know _exactly _what I could do." She hissed. "Which is exactly why I _don't_! Besides, even if I wanted to I couldn't, the succubi have their own laws." Her red lips set in a grim line. "Any succubus caught trying to abuse her powers more than she should, can be severely punished. And if one breaks the flimsy truce we have with the humans in the wizarding world she runs the risk of having a healthy dose of Amoretenia dumped down her throat! So don't try to tell me how much advantage I could be taking of the people around me, Severus, and do you really think I'd do such a thing?"

He suddenly felt as if she'd slapped him, and almost wished that she had, he would have deserved it. "I…I'm sorry." Severus flushed and raked a hand through his long hair. "I didn't mean it that way."

The tense expression left her face and was replaced instead by a small, sad smile. "I know you didn't, it's alright." Adrianna looked around the room, finally it seemed like the party was breaking up. "I think I've had enough of Slughorn's festivities for one evening." She stood slowly and gave his shoulder a reassuring pat. "See you later, Severus. Merry Christmas."

Adrianna was away and out the door before he even had a chance to respond. Severus mentally berated himself for being so dense about what would obviously be a sensitive subject. He sighed and slipped out of the party himself to head back to the castle dungeons. As he walked past the staircase that led up to Gryffindor Tower, he allowed himself a half-hearted chuckle at the strange turn of events that had taken place in his life lately.

"Happy Christmas, Adrianna." Severus whispered before continuing into the bowls of Slytherin territory.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! So sorry this chapter might not be very long, quite a lot has been happening around our house lately so the writing has been slow! Anyway, hope everyone enjoys! If you like it, please review!

Best,

Dragonwing

**Ch. 6 – Dinner Parties & Unexpected Visits**

A couple of days later, on December 23rd, Adrianna, Sirius, James and Remus saw Lily and Peter off at the train station in Hogsmeade. They would both be going to visit their families for the holiday, while the rest of the Marauders and the half-witch had elected to stay at Hogwarts.

"Why aren't you going home?" Sirius asked as t they made their way through the little town and back up to the school.

"America is just too far to go for only a few weeks," She explained, pulling her cloak tighter against the cold air. "Besides, my parents wrote and said they would be travelling over Christmas anyway."

"That's alright," James winked at her through the snow collecting on his glasses. "We'll have the better Christmas here anyway."

"I'll hold you to it," The girl chuckled as they trudged up the hill to the castle.

Just as they came within sight of the school's front entrance, they noticed an adult couple waiting outside of the massive wooden doors. They were huddled close in the cold and had their backs turned to the approaching students. Soon, however, the woman turned around and the boys heard Adrianna make a startled yelp.

"_Mom?_" Adrianna squinted up the hill at the couple standing at the top of the large steps. As they drew a little closer, she became excited and quickened her pace. "Mom! Dad!" She took off running through the snow, leaving the Marauders to catch up behind her.

Her parents turned towards the sound of their daughter's voice. "Adrianna!" Her father waved while her mother clasped her hands together eagerly.

She finally reached the front steps and was immediately swept up into a long hug by both of her parents. The Marauders reached them just as they were letting her go. Adrianna's father smiled at the three boys. "Hello! You must be Adrianna's friends." Mr. Fawley had long, dark brown hair that was pulled into a low ponytail, a close-cropped beard, and kind blue eyes. He shook each of their hands and introduced himself and his wife. "I'm Andrew Fawley, and this is my wife, Celeste." Adrianna's mother was a breath-taking, adult version of her daughter, but she was obviously wearing some kind of charm to hide her true succubus form that made her appearance look slightly…_fake_ from certain angles.

"So nice to meet all of you!" Mrs. Fawley smiled, her musical voice rolled over the boys in a heavy wave and sent an unbidden shiver down their spines.

The boys all grinned stupidly at Adrianna's mother until the girl rolled her eyes and turned back to her parents. "I can't believe you're here! Let's go inside and get out of the snow." The little group made its way into the foyer just outside of the Great Hall. Everyone removed their cloaks and stamped the caked on snow off of their shoes.

"It's a good thing we caught you when we did," Andrew Fawley chuckled. "We were just about to track down a staff member to help us find you."

"We were just seeing Lily and Peter off at the train in town," Adrianna explained, taking her parents cloaks so they could look freely around the inside of the castle.

"Oh, that's too bad!" Celeste frowned slightly. "I was so hoping to meet your other friends as well, especially Lily." She turned to the suddenly very attentive boys. "Our Adrianna doesn't have the chance to make many female friends you see."

"Mother!" Adrianna blushed. "They already know that."

"Leave her alone, Celeste." Mr. Fawley kissed his wife's temple. "We've only just gotten here."

"True," Her mother agreed. "I'm sorry dear. Oh! Before I forget," She began rummaging in her purse, which had obviously been expanded with wizard space. A delicate hand pulled out a large, silver wrapped present with a red bow. "We wanted to give you an early Christmas present, darling."

"You didn't have to do that, but thank you." Adrianna smiled warmly at her parents and accepted the package.

"We were hoping you would wear it tonight, dear." Celeste said simply.

"Why?" Their daughter suddenly sounded suspicious. "What's happening tonight?"

Andrew cleared his throat and absently rubbed his bearded chin. "Well, we've been invited to a holiday dinner at Uncle Josiah's house."

"Uncle Josiah!" Adrianna wrinkled her nose. "Do we have to?"

"Yes," Her father said firmly. "It's a miracle that we've even been invited, and you deserve an opportunity to get to know this side of your family."

"Look on the bright side," James joked with her. "At least you know it will be a good dinner."

Adrianna looked at him with wide eyes and Remus punched the well-meaning boy on the shoulder. "She doesn't _eat_, James!" He admonished.

"Oh…that's right…oops!" The Seeker shrugged. "Well, bring the food back for us, then!"

"You moron." Sirius shook his head. "Think about something besides food!"

"It's quite alright!" Celeste laughed, sending another shiver down the boys' spines. "The point is that you _tried_ to make her feel better about it, and that's what counts." She gave each of them the same quizzical, searching look that Adrianna was quickly becoming famous for at Hogwarts. "You always make the most interesting friends, Adrianna." The succubus said softly. Each of the boys felt a strange tingle roll over their faces. "They are all truly in touch with their…_animalistic_ sides aren't they?"

James, Sirius, and Remus looked at each other, startled, before getting an encouraging nod from Adrianna.

"Yeah, we are." Sirius tried to sound casual. "We all worked on it so Moony…er…Remus could have some company every month."

"That's wonderful," Celeste smiled before turning back to her husband. "Why don't we get in a tour of the school before we have to be at your uncle's house, Andrew?"

"Sure," Mr. Fawley grinned and gave the boys a heartening thumbs-up. "I'm sure we'll see you boys again before we leave, it was nice meeting you."

"See you later, guys." Adrianna waved and led her parents away for their tour of Hogwarts, the silver wrapped gift tucked neatly under her arm.

"Bloody hell," James finally broke the silence good-naturedly. "I wonder what her Mum really looks like without all the charms on her?"

Remus still had gooseflesh on his skin from being sniffed out as a werewolf twice in one term. "I have a funny feeling its best if we don't know."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, swinging an arm around each of his friends' shoulders. "If you think about how gorgeous Adrianna is just being half-succubus, I think our brains would melt if we saw a full-blooded one." The other boys laughed and the trio headed up to the Gryffindor common room to enjoy their afternoon.

OOOOOOOOOO

As the evening drew closer and the setting sun cast rays of red and gold onto the sparkling snow, Adrianna's parents stood waiting for her in the front foyer of the castle, completely unaware that they were being watched.

'_This is becoming a bad habit…_' Severus Snape thought grimly as he sneaked another look at Mr. and Mrs. Fawley from his hiding place in an alcove that housed a large, ancient vase. The minute he'd heard that the infamous Adrianna Fawley's parents were at Hogwarts he'd been possessed with a desire to see what they looked like. It was very easy to see where most of Adrianna's features came from. Her mother was simply a more mature looking copy of her daughter. Although the dampening charms the woman wore did her no credit from certain viewpoints. Mr. Fawley was a nice enough looking man, he had very kind eyes, but he seemed quite plain standing next to his wife.

'_I suppose if you're married to a succubus it doesn't really matter _what _you look like._' He chuckled to himself. '_But there's something else about them…they look far too young to have a sixteen year old daughter…_' Indeed, Mr. and Mrs. Fawley only looked to be in their late twenties or early thirties, a fact that the Marauders had failed to notice in favor of staring at Celeste's beautiful face. Severus found this extremely intriguing. '_I wonder…_'

"Severus?" Adrianna's surprised voice behind him made the Slytherin jump several feet, and he nearly knocked over the antique vase.

"Will you _stop_ sneaking up on me?" He whipped around to face her.

She smirked at him. "I'll stop 'sneaking up' on you when _you_ stop hiding yourself in plain sight."

"I…" Severus' retort died in his throat as he took in her appearance. She had changed into the gift her parents had brought her, a handsome set of robes in dove grey with slate blue trim. The neckline dipped down lower than the standard school robes did, exposing a swath of pale skin and delicate collar bones that he had never seen before. Her dark curls were brushed back from her face and held in place with silver pins. He noted with a feeling of pride that she was still wearing the silver protection charm he'd sent her for her birthday.

"Severus? Are you alright?" She giggled, bringing his attention back to her grey eyes.

"Yes, of course." He cleared his throat. "You…you look very nice."

"Thank you," Adrianna smirked slightly. "I have to go to dinner at my Uncle Josiah's house tonight, so my parents brought me something to wear."

"That's right! I'd heard your parents were here." Severus tried to cover up the fact that he was obviously just spying on them right before she'd found him.

"Right," She laughed. "Would you like to meet them?"  
Her question caught him off guard. "I…um…it's not necessary…"

Adrianna rolled her eyes and wrapped her warm fingers around his wrist. "Come on." She tugged him out into the corridor and towards her parents.

"But…!" Any objections he might have voiced fled once they got within earshot of Mr. and Mrs. Fawley. The attractive couple looked up as they approached and gave their daughter a questioning look.

"Mom and Dad, this is my friend Severus." Adrianna gently pushed him ahead of her to greet them.

"Nice to meet you." Mr. Fawley smiled and shook the nervous boy's hand. "Andrew Fawley, and this is Adrianna's mother, Celeste."

"Hello, there." The succubus's voice hit Severus in a way that he felt all the way down to his toes. "I knew there was a friend of Adrianna's that we hadn't met yet. It's nice to meet you, Severus."

"He…hello." He managed to choke out when Mrs. Fawley's _extremely_ warm hand grasped his.

"Well, we really should be going so that we're not late." Andrew Fawley said kindly. "Oh! But first," He withdrew what looked like an antique Muggle camera from within his robes. "I'd meant to get a picture of Adrianna with her friends we met earlier today, but I forgot." The tall man laughed. "But here's my chance to get at least one."

"Dad," Adrianna drawled. "Maybe Severus doesn't want his picture taken."

"Nonsense!" Mr. Fawley aimed the lens and gently pushed the shocked Slytherin into the shot with his daughter. To Severus, that picture might as well have taken an hour, but after one quick click of the camera Andrew pronounced the picture done and thanked him for humoring a proud father.

"Alright, enough of that." His daughter laughed and pushed her parents towards the door. She turned back towards Severus as she ushered Andrew and Celeste out into the snow, "Have a good night, Severus. See you later!"

He lifted a belated hand goodbye as the Fawley family disappeared out the door and into the night. '_Did that really just happen?_' Severus wondered and shook his head. He had a feeling he never would understand that girl, but somehow that fact didn't really bother him.

OOOOOOOOOO

The three remaining Marauders were enjoying their Christmas Eve morning breakfast, chatting about what they could do to fill in the day before the Christmas Eve feast that evening, when Sirius spotted Adrianna walking into the Great Hall.

"Oi! Adrianna, over here!" The handsome Gryffindor waved at their classmate, but the smile quickly dropped from his face when he saw how upset she looked.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked when she finally made it over to the Gryffindor table and sat down heavily. "Did something happen at dinner last night?"

"You could say that," Adrianna said bitterly and stabbed a sausage repeatedly with a fork.

"Um…want to talk about it?" James asked tentatively.

Stormy grey eyes flashed up at them before she heaved a resigned sigh and let go of the fork. "I thought that dinner would just be with Uncle Josiah and some other members of our family, but he invited another family too."

"Who?" Sirius asked, concern clouding his dark eyes.

"The Malfoys?" Adrianna shrugged, obviously never having heard of that name before. "They were a bunch of complete snobs!"

"Malfoys!" Sirius growled. "Prats, the lot of them."

"Right," James agreed. "So I guess charming young Luscious was there, yeah?"

"Ugh," She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "What a narcissistic _moron_! And Uncle Josiah actually had the nerve to suggest that we would 'make a good match'!"

"WHAT?" Sirius jumped to his feet, knocking over a jug of orange juice in the process.

"Oi, sit down Sirius!" James yanked him back down by his sleeve. "She obviously said no, right Adrianna?"

"Of course!" The half-succubus cried indignantly.

"Hey," Remus piped up. "Isn't Luscious Malfoy dating your cousin Narcissa, Sirius?"

"Oh yeah, he is." The dark haired wizard nodded.

"Well," Adrianna snorted. "He was perfectly willing to leave his girlfriend once Uncle Josiah spilled the beans about the pair bond…"

"Pair bond?" The werewolf asked curiously.

Adrianna sighed again. "Right…there's something that succubi can do with their life mates if they choose to…It's called a pair bond, it ties the other person's age rate to the succubus's. My parents have done it."

"So, the bloke who pair bonds with a succubus won't age unless she does?" James asked in an awed voice.

"Exactly," She let her head rest on the table as the food began to disappear. "And once dear Luscious heard about that, oh I just looked like the best thing on earth. I can't believe my Uncle tried to do that to me!"

"Don't worry," Remus patted her back reassuringly. "I'm sure your parents wouldn't make you go through something like that."

"No," Her muffled voice reached them from the table. "They were just as upset as I was, but now it's just one more thing that people know about that I'd wanted to keep to myself."

"Buck up!" James grinned with impressive bravado. "It's Christmas Eve! Let's find something fun to do until the feast tonight, yeah?"

"Alright," Adrianna sat up finally and forced a smile at her friends. "Let's go."

So, the four Gryffindors ventured out into the snowy expanse that was the Hogwarts grounds, the boys determined to take Adrianna's mind off of her Uncle's unwanted actions, and they more than succeeded.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone! I'm so sorry if this chapter isn't very long, the chaos that is my house briefly took priority over the last week, but now I'm back on track!

Thank you so much to Evytheworm and "Iforgottologin" for your reviews! I know it gets said a lot by everyone who publishes with , but it really does do my heart good to know that people are appreciating what I write.

Anyway, here is chapter seven! Chapter eight is nearly done, and will be up as well soon!

Enjoy!

~Dragonwing

**Ch. 7 – Racing for Hearts**

Christmas and New Years came and went with relative ease, and school resumed in January as scheduled. In fact, most of that first month back went by with little to no disturbance of any kind, even the Marauders had toned down their antics in favor of spending more time with Adrianna and Lily. It wasn't until the last week of January that Dumbledore made an announcement that would start even more chaos than even _he_ could realize.

"Good evening, students!" The blue-eyed headmaster smiled benignly. "I have a wonderful announcement to make."

"What else could he possibly have to announce this year?" James sniggered to Sirius. The black haired Gryffindor grinned and elbowed his friend in the ribs.

"The faculty and I have decided that it might be time to create a new tradition here at Hogwarts, something to break up the monotony that often accompanies this time of year." A twitter of whispered comments passed through the Great Hall as students wondered what on earth Dumbledore could be up to. He smiled again. "We have decided this year to organize and host a Valentine's Ball!" An even louder chorus of talk swept through the students at the announcement.

"A _Valentine's_ Ball?" Peter wrinkled his nose. "Why would they want to have something like that?"  
"Relax, Wormtail!" Sirius ruffled the smaller boy's hair and winked. "We'll make sure to find you a date."

"_Date_?" The rat-like boy squeaked.

"Adrianna?" Remus suddenly noticed the half-witch's wide-eyed expression. "What's wrong?"

The dark haired girl took a tentative look behind her at the rest of the Great Hall, saw the large number of young men staring her way and immediately turned back to the others. "Oh no," She groaned. "Not again." Adrianna's forehead hit the Gryffindor table with a little bit more force than was necessary.

As if sensing the half-succubus student's discomfort, Dumbledore held up his hands for silence and spoke again. "Now, I am not discouraging anyone from inviting a date to this event, _however_, I am fully aware of the number of birthday gifts Miss Adrianna Fawley received last year that could have been hazardous to her health." His blue eyes turned steely. "Therefore, any student caught attempting to give Miss Fawley a love potion or not accepting a refusal to go to the ball, will _not_ be allowed to attend and will have to serve detention with Mr. Filch for two weeks." A significant number of eyes quickly turned back to their own plates after Dumbledore's warning.

"Too bad," Evan Rosier hissed to Severus and a couple of other Slytherins. "Guess I'll just have to ask her to the ball the old fashioned way."

Severus felt like his dinner was going to come back up on him. He'd finally felt like Rosier had given up on this weird obsession with Adrianna, but apparently he was wrong.  
"What even makes you think she'll go with you?" The beady eyed Slytherin who always hung out with Rosier sneered. "Odds are she'll most likely end up going with Sirius Black."

Severus cringed at the thought, but of course it made the most sense. Everyone in all four Houses knew that Black was absolutely smitten with Adrianna Fawley. In fact, Severus wouldn't be surprised if the arrogant bastard was asking her to the ball at this very moment.

In reality, as soon as Sirius realized how many other guys would most likely be asking Adrianna to the ball, his normally smooth tongue had frozen. She was always friendly towards him, he even liked to entertain the idea that they flirted occasionally, but he had no idea if she'd actually like to go on a…_date_ with him. Said half-witch was still having a little self-pity party with her head down on the table. Eventually she sat back up and looked to Lily for help, but the redhead offered no comfort.

"Oh, don't worry!" Lily giggled at her friend. "I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"Right," James grinned encouragingly. "Besides, when you do choose someone you can always double with Evans and me."

"_Excuse_ me?" Lily narrowed her green eyes at James. "I don't recall ever accepting any kind of invitation from _you_, Mr. Potter."

"Aw, come on Evans!" The crestfallen Seeker exclaimed. "Why won't you go with me?"

"Because I don't want to!" She snapped, flipping her red hair over her shoulder.

"Having fun yet?" Adrianna grinned evilly at her friend.

"Oh, shut up." Lily huffed.

OOOOOOOOOO

Adrianna didn't even make it back to the Gryffindor common room that night without having to turn down at least seven invitations to the ball. Most of them were easy to turn down, as they came from some rather brave first and second years. However, once the students in fourth year and above started asking, it became a little bit more difficult, especially when a couple of boys didn't exactly take 'no' for an answer right away. Thankfully the Marauders were nearby and able to distract an overzealous suitor or two so that Adrianna could get up to the common room. She collapsed into an armchair by the fireplace and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"This is going to be very bad." Adrianna muttered to herself. Her grey eyes stared into the flames; she'd dealt with this kind of problem back in America. Salem Academy hosted a Spring Ball every flipping year, when Adrianna was younger it hadn't been so bad, but the minute she'd hit puberty the couple of months leading up to those events had been miserable. Lily ran up to the girls' dorm to grab her homework for the evening, while Peter, James, and Sirius commandeered a table so they could play a quick hand of Exploding Snap.

"Are you alright?" Remus sat down in the chair next to her. The young werewolf felt a great deal of sympathy for what Adrianna was going through, at least he had the option of hiding what he was from other people but she would always be recognized for what she was. As the school year had progressed, the two of them had developed a ritual of talking quietly by themselves at least once a week, sharing the different hurdles they had either already overcome or were currently dealing with depending on their respective conditions. Remus had learned a great deal about his new friend, and in turn had told her things that only one or two other people knew about himself, and that list sometimes didn't even include James, Sirius, or Peter. When they'd first met the intriguing half-witch, he'd had no idea just how much control she had to exert over her succubus traits on a daily basis, it made him slightly grateful that he only had to worry about his werewolf symptoms for a handful of days every month.

"I'm fine," Adrianna smiled at the sandy haired boy and squeezed his hand. "It's just going to be very frustrating around here for a couple of weeks."

"Don't worry," He smiled kindly and clasped her hand in return. "It will be over before you know it."

OOOOOOOOOO

The following weekend found the snow covered school experiencing surprisingly warm temperatures given the time of year. Granted, it was still cold enough that robes and scarves were required to be comfortable outside, but the bite that had been in the air since mid-December seemed to have finally left. Lily and Adrianna were just putting the finishing touches on a small snowman down by the lake when a snowball suddenly zoomed dangerously close over their heads.

"Hey!" Adrianna whipped around and glared at the direction the missile had come from, only to sigh and roll her eyes as the Marauders peeked sheepishly out from behind a snow drift.

"What do you guys want?" Lily asked irritably. James had proceeded to ask the redhead to the Valentine's Ball at least twice more since the first announcement was made, and she was really in no mood to deal with him right now. Of course that was nothing compared to the number of invitations Adrianna had turned down, in fact that morning the two girls had spent together was one of the first reprieves the half-succubus had received.

"We just stopped by to see if you two lovely ladies are having a good day so far." James grinned and Lily stuck her tongue out at him.

"Plus we had to vacate the castle for a little while," Remus snorted. "Professor McGonagall didn't think to highly of Sirius and James slipping an exploding quill into Snape's bag yesterday and she keeps giving them more detentions every time she sees them."

"Why would you do that?" Adrianna's grey gaze narrowed at the boys.

"The git deserved it," James explained nonchalantly, but at least Sirius had the good grace to look slightly chastised.

"So…" Remus sensed the tension building and briefly regretted saying Sirius and James' latest prank out loud. "The weather sure improved, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did." Adrianna chuckled and gently pushed his shoulder with hers. "Soon it will be nice enough to spend more time outside."

"More gambling around the campus like a bunny, then?" James grinned, finding humor even in Adrianna's penchant for running.

"Just because _**you**_ couldn't keep up with me even if you wanted to, doesn't give you an excuse to be snarky." The half-witch smirked at the bespectacled young man.

"Are you saying you're faster than James or Sirius?" Peter asked skeptically. "There's no way! Sirius is the fastest runner in Gryffindor."

"Maybe he is, and maybe he isn't." Adrianna exchanged a knowing look with Lily that only Remus was able to catch.

"How about we have a little wager then?" James asked slyly. "You and Padfoot here have a race, and if he wins...then you and Evans will be our dates to the Valentines Ball."  
Sirius' head snapped over in James' direction, while Remus' eyes bugged out and Peter giggled. Lily frowned and seriously contemplated hexing James Potter right then and there. Adrianna merely smiled serenely, "And, what if _we_ win?"  
"Er...what do you want?" James asked as if this wasn't even a remote possibility.  
She turned and conferenced with Lily in hushed whispers. The redheaded girl was vehemently shaking her head, obviously not wanting to take the bet at all. Adrianna must have convinced her, though, for she turned back to the boys and nodded. "We'll take the bet. If you win, we'll go to the dance with you." Lily grimaced behind her. "But if _we_ win, you two have to wear Slytherin colors next Monday, for the _whole_ day."  
Peter and Remus burst out laughing. Sirius quirked an eyebrow at his best friend, but the bespectacled young man simply shrugged and held out his hand to Adrianna. "Agreed!"  
"Good." She shook his hand, "So where are we racing to? Around the lake?"  
"Around the lake?" Sirius sputtered. "That's over three miles!"  
"Something shorter then?" Adrianna grinned and looked around. "Ok, how about to that tree by Hagrid's house and back? Seems like a flat enough path."  
Sirius nodded, and then was surprised when she began to unbutton her outer school robes. After removing the robes, next off came her scarf, grey sweater, stockings, and the buckled shoes girls were required to wear. Once she was down to her uniform skirt and button-down shirt, Adrianna began stretching out her legs, seeming to have no problem with the fact that she was now standing barefoot in packed down snow.  
"She's got the right idea, mate." James elbowed Sirius in the ribs. "Get to it!"  
He too removed his school robes, scarf and sweater, opting to keep his shoes on however.  
By now their little group had begun to attract some onlookers, and James took this opportunity to start taking bets on who would win the race.  
Finished with stretching, Adrianna turned back towards the boys. "Ready?" She grinned  
"Yep." Sirius nodded, slightly puzzled over how calm she seemed.  
"Right!" James called out. "You'll start here at the lake shore, run to Hagrid's cabin, touch the tree, and run back here! Remus here will be the judge." He hooked an arm around the blushing werewolf's neck.  
Sirius and Adrianna moved into position.  
"Make sure you wear something nice on our date, Evans." James said confidently to Lily.  
The other girl scowled at him before smiling slyly, "Oh, I don't think I'll have to worry about that."  
"On your mark," Remus began nervously. "Get set...GO!"  
The two dark haired runners were off in an instant, keeping the same pace as they streaked across the field in front of the castle. Cheers from the onlookers followed them. Within five minutes they'd reached the halfway point, quickly touched the tree and turned back. About a fourth of the way back to the lake, Sirius heard her voice reach him through the wind rushing past his ears.  
"Give up yet?" She called.  
Sirius opened his mouth to respond and realized that he was becoming too winded to speak. But Adrianna had sounded like she was just out for a Sunday stroll! He chanced a look in her direction and nearly tripped over himself. Her long curls flew back as her slender legs carried her forward through the snow, and he couldn't remember ever seeing anything more gorgeous. As they were closing in on the finish line, she was suddenly no longer running beside him, but ahead of him!  
_'She's been holding back!_' Sirius thought dazedly, the cold air starting for form an ache in his lungs.  
Within seconds she gained a good ten feet on Sirius and streaked across the finish line Remus had drawn in the snow.  
He crossed the line himself and came to a stumbling, ungraceful stop. Sirius put his hands on his knees and sucked more cold air into his lungs, whereas Adrianna was standing perfectly at ease by Lily, her face barley flushed from the exercise.  
"Oi..." Sirius huffed. "You played me, Evans!"  
Lily grinned and crossed her arms. "You forget that _I'm_ the one who's been going on runs with her all term."  
"Bullocks..." The still panting Gryffindor muttered. He noticed the gobsmacked look on James' face and chuckled. "Sorry Prongs, should have known we couldn't win, 'eh?"

"That was…they…but she…" James seemed at a loss for words for the first time in his life. He pushed his glasses farther up his nose and stared for a couple more seconds before regaining some composure. "Well in the name of Merlin's last pair of saggy shorts, guess you won fair and square Fawley."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Here we are my dear readers and writers! I had wanted to include more in this chapter, but considering some of the events that are coming up soon for our beloved characters, I felt that just sticking to Valentine's Day in this one made more sense. I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoys the chapter!

Once again, I own nothing except for my original characters!

Best,

~Dragonwing

**Ch. 8 – The Valentine's Ball**

Before anyone at Hogwarts knew it, the week of the dance had officially arrived. Many of the students had paired off early on, leaving those still without dates entering into a state of pre-Valentine's Ball panic.

"Evans has turned me down _four times_ now!" James exclaimed as the Marauders left Herbology and climbed the hill towards the school. The remnants of a recent dusting of snow swirled around their feet and soaked the edges of their school robes. "I don't know what else to do."

"Stop assuming she's going to say yes just because you're asking?" Sirius joked, earning himself a handful of loose snow thrown at his face.

"You're one to talk!" His bespectacled friend snapped. "I don't see you asking Adrianna Fawley, now do I?"

"I…er…" Sirius blushed and muttered something under his breath as the crested the hill.

Frank Longbottom, who happened to be walking along behind them, spoke up. "Adrianna? I heard she had a date already."

"She does?" The dark haired Gryffindor gaped. "Are you sure? Who with?"

"Who are you taking, Frank?" Remus asked suddenly, trying to redirect the conversation.

"Alice." Their round-faced friend grinned. "Asked her the week they announced the ball."

"Good for you, mate." James sighed and patted the other boy on the back as he waved and left the Marauders to their conversation.

"You alright, Padfoot?" Peter noticed Sirius' still dumbfounded expression. "You look like somebody just hexed you."

"I…Frank said…but she…_Who_ is she going with then?" Sirius exclaimed before rounding on Remus. "Moony, you two talk all of the time! Surely she's told you, yeah?"

Remus peeked out from behind the Charms book he'd taken out just after Frank's departure and mumbled an answer into the pages.

"What was that?" James asked. "Speak up, Moony."

The werewolf sighed and let the book drop. "She's…ah…going with me." He then proceeded to turn a bright shade of red.

"WHAT?" Sirius jumped, gawking at his shy friend. "How in the name of Merlin's bloody balls could you _do_ that to me, mate?"

"I…I didn't!" Remus sputtered. "_She_ asked _me_!"

"What now?" James burst out laughing.

Remus sighed. "She asked me last week…Adrianna said that she wanted to just go with a friend instead of a 'date' so that there wouldn't be any trouble between people asking her…" He cleared his throat. "Plus, I think Lily wanted Adrianna to double with her and the guy she's going with, so…"

"Wait, WHAT?" It was James' turn to be upset. "Evans is going with someone? _Who_?"

"Uh…Samuel Napier in seventh year." Remus mumbled again.

"A _Ravenclaw_?" Sirius cackled. "That's priceless!"

"Sod off!" The Seeker glowered at his friends.

"Well it could be worse," Peter spoke up, grinning evilly. "At least neither of them is going with _Snivellus_."

"Huh, yeah, _there's_ the silver lining." James rolled his eyes and promptly pushed Peter down the hill.

OOOOOOOOOO

As it turned out, Remus ended up being the only Marauder who had an actual "date" to the Valentine's Ball, seeing as Peter, James, and Sirius had come to the conclusion that it wouldn't be worth it to ask girls they weren't interested in. Well, Sirius and James came to that conclusion, Peter went along so he wouldn't have to actually attempt to ask anyone to go with him.

"I don't know if I can do this…" Remus muttered for the hundredth time as Sirius finished the spell that adjusted his spare set of dress robes to fit the werewolf.

"Don't worry, mate!" Sirius straightened Moony's tie. The dark haired boy had grudgingly accepted Adrianna's logic behind asking Remus to the Ball, and was now doing his best to calm his friend's nerves. "You look sharp, and you know Adrianna isn't expecting anything crazy from you, it'll be fine."

"If you say so," The smaller boy sighed and examined himself in the mirror. "Huh, nice job Padfoot." Remus was exceedingly grateful he'd been able to borrow dress robes from Sirius, seeing as the ones he did own weren't in the best shape.

"Well, let's head out then, shall we?" James finished putting on his own robes, gave up on trying to tame his mop of black hair, and slung an arm around Sirius' shoulders. "Come on, Padfoot, let's go watch Moony and that Ravenclaw wanker dance the night away with our girls."

"Prongs!" Remus blushed furiously as the four boys made their way out of the dorm and down to the foyer outside of the Great Hall. Several groups of students were already gathered there either waiting for their dates or simply passing the time until the ball started.

"So, you're meeting Adrianna down here?" Peter asked as they chose a spot near the bottom of the staircase.

"Uh, yeah." Moony nodded nervously. "She and Lily are coming down together and I suppose Napier is meeting them here too."

"Fucking Napier…" James muttered under his breath.

Sirius elbowed him and smirked. "Hey, we agreed that if I can't complain about not going to the ball with Adrianna, then _you_ can't complain about not going with Evans, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah…but this is still total bullocks." The Seeker huffed and looked around as the room became steadily more crowded. "Let's hope they show up soon before…" James stopped halfway through his sentence and a broke out in a devious grin. He nudged Sirius and Peter, "Say, check it out. Looks like some of the _snakes_ are actually showing up." All of the Gryffindor boys looked over to where a group of black and green clad Slytherins had just emerged from the dungeons.

"I don't like that look on your face, Prongs." Remus frowned. "Can't you leave it alone for one night?"

"Don't know what you're talking about, mate." James winked. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to have a little…_fun_ with some of our fellow Hogwarts students."

"Especially _Snivellus_," Peter's laugh was annoyingly high pitched. "It's no surprise the greasy git couldn't even get one of the Slytherin girls to go with him."

"_No_," The werewolf shook his head. "Not tonight, it's a bloody school function! Not to mention the fact that Adrianna is still kind of pissed at you lot for the exploding quill bit."

"She is?" Sirius' head whipped around and his expression darkened.

"Um…" Peter started poking Remus repeatedly in the arm. "I think you'll want to turn around now, Moony."  
Remus, James, and Sirius all turned and froze when they saw Lily and Adrianna coming down the main staircase. "Bloody hell," James murmured. "Feeling jealous again yet, Padfoot?"

Sirius didn't even bother to answer. He was too busy trying to keep his mouth from hanging open. Granted, Lily looked very lovely in her violet chiffon gown, the material swirled around her like rippling water and her flaming hair was piled up at the back of her head. But Adrianna…Adrianna was _resplendent_. Her empire-waisted evening gown was a stunning shade of slate blue with dark grey beading along the neckline and at the waist. The material shimmered in the candlelight and it hugged the half-succubus's curves in all the right places. Half of her obsidian curls were gathered at the back of her head and held in place with silver clips, the resulting effect looked like a black waterfall was cascading down her back.

Just as the two girls reached the bottom of the stairs, Samuel Napier from Ravenclaw joined the waiting Gryffindor boys. "You look fantastic, Lily!" The handsome seventh year grinned at her, his blonde hair swung forward as he bent and kissed her hand, oblivious to the glare of death James shot him.

"Hello Remus," Adrianna grinned at the anxious werewolf. "Don't you look nice!"

"I…that is…thank you…You look, er, I mean…" Remus floundered now that he was in front of her. Even though they were just friends, it was still very difficult to talk to her while she was dressed like that.

"Why, thank you." She saved him from having to make a coherent reply and slipped her arm through his. "It looks like Professor McGonagall is opening the doors, shall we go in?" Remus managed to nod mutely as they followed Lily and Samuel into the Great Hall, with the rest of the Marauders trailing close behind. The Great Hall looked like Valentine's Day had suffered a barely contained explosion within the room. There was not a single surface that Professor Flitwick hadn't decorated in some "romantic" fashion, and it was almost overwhelming.

"If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it." Evan Rosier scoffed to anyone at the table the Slytherins had commandeered who would listen. "Who would have thought little Lupin had the bullocks to ask Adrianna Fawley to the ball?"

Severus cringed and wondered for the tenth time already if coming tonight had been a mistake. It was bad enough being cajoled into attending by their Head of House, but now he had to sit here all night and listen to Rosier go on and on about Adrianna? Great.

"I didn't see _you_ asking her, Rosier." Another Slytherin boy sneered. "What say you to that?"

Rosier flipped the boy a rude hand gesture and scoffed. "How was I supposed to even get near her? Not ruddy likely with Potter and his bloody fan club always hanging around like a pack of drooling crups."

Finally the conversation turned elsewhere, leaving Severus safe to locate Adrianna in the room without having to hear something about it from the others. It was easy to spot her, she shone like a proverbial candle in a coal mine. The beautiful Gryffindor was standing with Lily and the prat of a Ravenclaw that had managed to secure the redhead as a date.

'_They both look so beautiful…_' Severus thought wistfully, allowing himself a brief moment of self-pity before shaking it off. He also couldn't believe Lupin would have actually asked Adrianna to be his date, more likely the half-succubus had asked him herself just to avoid having to answer any of the many idiots in the school who'd wanted to ask her. '_Lucky bastard,_' Severus glowered, he'd already had more than his fill of this ridiculous event and was counting the minutes until it would be socially acceptable to Professor Slughorn if he left. With a sigh, Severus got up from the table and quickly made his way through the great hall to get something to drink, not that any of the other Slytherins even noticed.

'_Who needs to figure out how to be invisible?_' He asked himself. '_I can do it naturally own my own._'

The slender boy made it to the punch bowl, which was oddly enough being guarded by Mr. Filch so that none of the students could "add" anything to it. Severus got himself a glass of punch that he felt he'd had to work way too hard for, and was turning around to cross the room again, when he ran right into Adrianna Fawley.

"Dear Salazar, kill me now." He uttered in horror when he saw the red punch that had spilled onto her blue and grey gown. "I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry, it's alright!" Adrianna glanced around and then quickly gathered the same silver light in her hand that she'd shown Severus over the holidays. With a careful flick of her wrist, the stain disappeared and the shattered glass cup reformed itself and floated back into Severus's hand. "There, see, not a problem." She smiled at him and he had to forcibly remind himself that it would be best if he made some kind of response.

"Well, still…sorry about that." Severus muttered. How did she always manage to find him?

"Are you having a good time?" Her question caught him slightly off guard and he said the first thing that came to mind.

"A good time? At this pretentious mockery of a commercial holiday? Right, I'm having the time of my life." He scowled at a transfigured cherub that chose that moment to fly too close for comfort. To his surprise, Adrianna laughed.

"I'm afraid I'd have to agree with you," She grinned and shook her head. "I've never been overly fond of these kinds of things."

"You…haven't?" Severus asked, finally putting the empty cup back down.

"Well," Her answer was cut short when a seventh year Hufflepuff interrupted in order to ask her to dance. Adrianna politely declined and turned back to Severus with a sigh. "That is exactly why I'm not a fan of balls or dances, people never leave me alone." Red lips twisted wryly. "And I can't very well expect Remus to constantly be by my side, the poor dear's exhausted already." She chuckled. "That's why I've gotten as many of my friends to say they'll dance with me as I can, it just makes things easier."

Severus nodded, completely missing the point of what she'd just said.

Adrianna tilted her had quizzically at him and moved on. "Anyway, that's part of the reason I came over, I was wondering if you'd like to save a dance for me at some point tonight?"

"I…uh…me?" He blinked rapidly at her and suddenly found that he didn't know what to do with his hands. "What I meant was…I'm not exactly good at…it's probably not…um…"

"Calm down, you don't have to if you don't want to." She laughed again and briefly placed a warm hand on his forearm. "But if you change your mind, just let me know." A new song started up at that very moment and she looked back to where her friends were gathered and waved. "Well, I've convinced Alice to let me borrow Frank Longbottom for this one, so I'll stop bothering you now." Adrianna smiled again and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Severus quickly touched her shoulder and then yanked his hand back once he realized it. "You…um…You don't bother me. At all. Ever." He bit his tongue to stop any further babbling. "I just wanted to clarify."

"Well thank you," She nodded, her grey eyes twinkled at him. "Let me know if you change your mind about that dance, alright?"

All he could do was nod dumbly as she left to go meet Longbottom on the dance floor. The cheerful Gryffindor laughed and joked as they danced, while Alice took a turn around the room with Sirius.

'_I_ will _dance with her_,' Severus told himself as he made his way back to the table. '_She asked me to, how could I not?_'

"We saw you talking to Adrianna Fawley again, Sev." Rosier sneered once their year mate returned. "She want more _potions_ help, then?" The burly Slytherin and several others cackled at the joke. Severus remained quiet and tried to look anywhere but the dance floor.

"Come on," One of the other boys hissed. "Slughorn isn't looking, let's get out of here. I've got a bottle of Firewhiskey my brother managed to send to me, let's leave these Valentine's twats to their ball and have some real fun."

"Too right," Rosier and several others stood up. He looked down his nose at Severus. "You coming, Sev?"

Severus was torn. He hadn't even wanted to come to this dreaded event, but now that Adrianna had asked him to dance…how many other chances like that was he going to get? Just then, however, the current song ended and a new one began. And Severus saw Sirius Black put his arm around Adrianna to hold her close as they danced. The handsome, arrogant Gryffindor leaned down to whisper something in her ear, making the gorgeous half-succubus laugh and swat his chest playfully. That sight, combined with the fact that Lily was only a few feet away in the arms of that seventh year Ravenclaw, sent Severus into a very angry place. How _dare_ those bastards treat others the way they did and then still end up with everything they wanted? It was too much for him to tolerate in one evening. He stood up swiftly and gave Rosier a curt nod. The pack of Slytherins made their way out of the Great Hall, and Severus forced himself to not look back at either Lily Evans or Adrianna Fawley as he trailed behind.

Sirius couldn't believe his luck! He was currently dancing his second dance of the evening with Adrianna Fawley, and felt as if he was walking on a cloud. Never mind the fact that Remus was technically her "date" for the evening, she'd seen right away he wouldn't be able to stay glued to her side the whole night and had set up a rotating dance card with all of her friends to give the werewolf a break every now and then.

"You know," Sirius grinned, growing bolder since they were having such a good time. "We dance so well together, why not just push the next few blokes down the list and keep going?"

Adrianna laughed as he twirled her around. "As fun as that sounds, I'd hate to not dance with someone I've promised to."

"Who else is there?" He asked, slightly puzzled. "You've danced with Moony, James, Frank, Peter, me of course, even Lily's date…Who else is there?"

"Well," She grinned and quickly scanned the room. "There is still Severus if he'd like to."

"_Snivellus?_" Sirius stopped dead in the middle of the dance floor, causing another couple to run into them. After they recovered and resumed dancing, Adrianna answered him.

"Yes, _Severus_. He's my friend as well, you know, and I've already asked him."

"Why in Merlin's name would you want to dance with that greasy git?" He scoffed, failing to notice her stiffening in his arms. "He doesn't deserve to dance with you!"

"Oh, really?" Her grey gaze hardened. "Well at the moment, neither do you." Without warning she slipped out of his grasp and walked off of the dance floor right in the middle of the song. Sirius stood there dumbfounded for several seconds before remembering himself and rushing after her.

"Oi! What do you mean by that?" He demanded as she reached the table Remus, James, and Peter were sitting at.

Adrianna rounded on him, stopping the tall boy in his tracks. "What I _mean_, Sirius, is that just because someone is in a different House than me doesn't mean I can't be any more of a friend to them than I am to anyone in Gryffindor. And the sooner you learn that, the better off we'll be." She grabbed Moony's hand and he jumped up at the touch. "Remus, would you please finish this dance with me? It seems that Sirius and I just can't see eye-to-eye at the moment." The werewolf looked nervously at his friends, but went along with her anyway, shooting Sirius an apologetic look over his shoulder as they wove into the crowd.

"What happened, Pads?" James asked as he cleaned his glasses. "Put your foot in your mouth?"

Peter giggled, but quickly stopped after Sirius glared at him. "It's that damned, greasy, pain in the arse Snivellus!" He snapped and sat down roughly. "We were doing just fine until she said that she'd actually promised a dance to _him_. And then she gets mad at _me_ for pointed out how that slimy snake doesn't even deserve to dance with her!"

"Don't worry about it, mate." James slipped his glasses back on and clapped Sirius on the back. "You know how friendly she is, you probably just made her feel embarrassed for being nice to the git." His voice dropped conspiratorially and the other two boys leaned in. "I say we come up with a plan to show Adrianna what Snivellus is really like, yeah? Then you won't have to worry about it."

"Brilliant." Sirius nodded grimly while Peter got an excited look in his eyes. "What did you have in mind?"

**End Note:** Hope everyone enjoyed! I promise the next chapter will be much longer, and we'll see some more development between Sirius and Adrianna! Night everyone!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** Hello all my dear readers and writers! I apologize for the delay in any kind of update on my part! My one and only laptop that I've had for years now has decided it doesn't want to live anymore :( If I hadn't backed up all of my stories on an external drive I would have lost everything! Right now I'm updating from a friend's computer, but hopefully I'll have a new laptop soon and will be back on a regular updating schedule. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter!

Best,

~Dragonwing

**Ch. 9 – Return of the Record Player**

It was only a matter of weeks before spring bloomed its way across Hogwarts, bringing with it warmer weather, blossoming flowers, and an increasing sense of anxiety for the fifth years about the O.W.L. exams. In fact, they were so flooded with homework during the weeks immediately following the dance that they had very little time to focus on anything else. The spring also brought the return of the school Quidditch season, which caused considerably more excitement with it than the thought of the fifth year exams did.

"Only three more days until we play Hufflepuff!" James said excitedly as he plopped down at the Gryffindor table. The Seeker began piling his plate high with eggs, sausage, and potatoes.

"Careful there, Prongs." Sirius chuckled. "If you eat too much you'll weigh your broom down."

"Shurrup," James mumbled around a mouthful of food.

"Very classy, Potter." Lily smirked as she and Adrianna joined the boys. "What are you talking about?"

"Quidditch." Remus grinned and passed Adrianna a jug of pumpkin juice. "First match of the term is this Friday against Hufflepuff. Got any plans for some…_musical _support?"

"Oh, I have a few ideas in mind." The dark haired girl smiled pleasantly and toasted the werewolf with her juice. "You'll see." She exchanged a knowing look with Lily and the two girls grinned.

"Can't wait," Sirius agreed eagerly. After the disagreement he'd had with Adrianna at the Valentine's Ball, Sirius had made an extra effort to get back in the half-succubus's good graces. Although this certainly didn't stop him from badmouthing the Slytherins when he was alone with the other Marauders. It also didn't stop him and James from planning a particularly nasty prank to set on Severus the next chance they got.

"We'd better get to class," Lily said eventually. The Gryffindors all stood and joined the stream of students making their way to the first classes of the day.

As they made their way down into the dungeons, Adrianna slowed her pace ever so slightly and fell in step with a certain Slytherin that she really hadn't gotten to talk to lately.

"You disappeared on me." She said pleasantly, effectively startling him out of his thoughts.

"Wait…what?" Severus looked up sharply. He'd been engrossed in the notes he was continually scratching in the margins of his potions book.

"At the ball," Adrianna chuckled as they reached the classroom. "I guess you'll just have to owe me that dance another time, huh?"

"I…um…" He honestly didn't know what to say. This strange American never ceased to both amaze and confuse him.

"I'll take that as a yes," The beauty grinned and waved goodbye. "See you later." She moved up to the front of the room and took her seat next to Lily, leaving Severus to once again puzzle over the enigma that was Adrianna Fawley.

OOOOOOOOOO

The Quidditch match of Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff was scheduled to start right after breakfast the following Saturday, and the weather was thankfully cooperating. A slight breeze blew across the stands as the students and faculty took their seats. Remus helped Adrianna set up her record player in its customary spot, while Lily and Peter sorted through the records they'd chosen for the day. Soon, it was time for the teams to enter the field, followed closely by Madam Hooch. Both the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff sides of the stands began applauding as they made their way to the middle of the pitch.

"Here we go, Quidditch fans!" Frank Longbottom's voice boomed over the pitch, earning encouraging cheers from both sides of the stands. Madam Hooch had James and the Hufflepuff captain shake hands before she reached down and released the four Quidditch balls. "And they're off!" Frank yelled. "A spectacular start to the first match of the term!"

The Gryffindors were in rare form that morning, especially with the knowledge that all they had to do was win both of their matches this term and they would be a shoe-in for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup. After only five minutes of play, Johnson managed to score the first goal of the game for Gryffindor, causing a roar of encouragement to come from the sea of red clad students on the far side of the pitch. Adrianna, who had her customary red streak going through her black curls, clapped loudly and prepared to play the first record that she and Lily had selected for the day. Nearby students were torn between watching the match and keeping an ear out for what the half-succubus had planned for Gryffindor this time.

Soon enough, she decided it was time to start the music, and the first bright notes of The Edgar Winter Group's song "Free Ride" came blasting out of the record player. The Gryffindors immediately began applauding and shouting even louder. Even if many of them didn't know the words to the song, what mattered was that they had come to associate the records Adrianna played with uniting their House team and earning a victory. Lily had actually chosen the next record that they played, and "Free Ride" was quickly followed by "Mississippi Queen" by Mountain. By that point, the Gryffindors were winning 60 points to 10, and it was only a matter of minutes before James suddenly shot down into a nose dive after the Snitch. His fingers wrapped around the swift golden ball, and the Seeker pulled up just a few feet from the ground to rocket back up, scattering several Hufflepuffs as he went. The resulting boom of noise from the Gryffindor side of the pitch nearly drowned out the record player.

"Gryffindor wins!" Frank bellowed, the _sonorous _charm carrying his voice across most of the campus. "Gryffindor wins! Celebration in the common room! Oh…sorry, Professor McGonagall!"

Adrianna was laughing and cheering and hugging all of her nearby house mates. _This_ was what she loved about being at Hogwarts: The camaraderie, the feeling of belonging to a community. As she reached across and hugged Remus, Adrianna felt entirely content.

OOOOOOOOOO

After the spectacular defeat of Hufflepuff by Gryffindor, the next scheduled Quidditch match was quickly approaching between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. This posed a slight problem for Adrianna, because she wanted to support both of the teams, yet knew that she'd have to choose just one. After conferencing with Lily and Remus about their options, she ended up deciding to set up her record player on the Hufflepuff side of the pitch. Adrianna figured since Hufflepuff had the won the Quidditch cup the fewest times compared to the other houses, that they deserved the support.

The weather that day was absolutely abysmal, iron gray clouds loomed over the school grounds and the match had barely started before the rain began pelting down on the students. Soaking wet and increasingly miserable, the spectators were wondering how long this particular match was going to take. With Lily's help, Adrianna set up a protective bubble around the record player to keep most of the rain off and put on one of the most ironic records she could think of for this particular moment. The crowd of yellow-clad Hufflepuffs around them tittered as their ears picked up the first few lyrics of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop the Rain":

"Long as I remember  
The rain been comin' down.  
Clouds of myst'ry pourin'  
Confusion on the ground.  
Good men through the ages,  
Tried to find the sun;  
And I wonder, still I wonder,  
Who'll stop the rain."

The rest of the match didn't last for very long after that, and granted the Hufflepuffs lost to Ravenclaw, but the atmosphere was decidedly better than it had been at first. Despite the rain and the gloom, it was actually a rather silly game of Quidditch. After Madam Hooch blew the whistle to signal the end of the match, several of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff players flew straight down into a giant mud puddle that had formed in the middle of the pitch and splashed down in a heap of brooms and flying globs of mud.

"Well, that was interesting." Remus chuckled as they made their way into the front entrance of Hogwarts. The werewolf sat down the bag of records he'd lugged back up to the castle for Adrianna and peeled off his soaking wet cloak.

"Too right," Sirius shook his head from side to side like a wet dog, scattering water straight at Peter's face.

James ran a hand through his already messy hair, causing it to stand up on end. "Now it's only a matter of time until we play Slytherin for the Cup." He grinned evilly.

"Also only a matter of time before we have to take our O.W.L.s," Lily huffed as she helped Adrianna set down the record player on the stone floor. The redhead pulled her hair over her shoulder and wrung out a considerable amount of water. "Shouldn't you also be concentrating on that?"

"Priorities, Evans!" James scolded from behind his fogged up glasses. "The O.W.L.s aren't for another two months, whereas we've got to be ready to beat those Slytherins in a matter of weeks!"

Adrianna chuckled and slung off her cloak, a passing first year gawked openly at the way her wet robes clung to her form and walked straight into the banister that flanked the main staircase. "Are you alright?" She gave the small boy a hand up and smiled down at him. The first year practically trembled as he stuttered out a reply and took off for the safety of his friends who were waiting for him on the stairs. Adrianna smiled softly and shook her head before turning to help Lily and Remus gather up the player and records to take everything back up to the common room.

OOOOOOOOOO

Severus couldn't help but smile himself when he saw Adrianna help the little boy up who'd managed to injure himself while staring at her. He'd immediately recognized the first year as a Slytherin, and had stayed back to make sure Potter and his pack of bullies didn't corner the kid. A drop of water wound its way out of his hair and down his nose as he watched the Gryffindors make their way up the stairs to their blasted tower. He sighed before turning himself and heading down into the school dungeons.

Just as he was rounding the corner that lead to the opening to the Slytherin common room, Severus heard raised voices in the hallway.

"We're going to have to do something about those damned Gryffindors sooner or later." A gruff voice he recognized as Even Rosier's hissed. "The match for the Quidditch Cup is in exactly three weeks, and at the rate they're going we're not going to stand a chance!"

"A big part of it has to do with that blasted record player Adrianna Fawley brings to all the matches." That was Crawlson, the Slythering Quidditch captain. "There's got to be some way we can get rid of it…"

"Say, Rosier," Another Slytherin player sneered. "Didn't you say you were going to 'sweet-talk' Fawley into supporting _us_ with that thing? How's _that_ going?"

"Fuck off," Rosier spat. "She's always surrounded by Potter, Black, and the rest of those Gryffindor wankers. I can't even get close to her!"

"Well…you know who could get close to her?" Crawlson suddenly murmured. "_Severus_! She's always talking to _him_, you said so yourself Evan."

"True," The other player agreed. "But do you think he'd try to sway her for us?"

Rosier's voice took on a threatening tone. "He _will_ if he knows what's good for him."

Severus quickly back-pedaled down the corridor, a feeling of sheer panic rising in his chest. What was he going to do? He didn't want to betray his own house, the only place he'd ever felt even remotely welcomed. But he couldn't _possibly_ try to accomplish what Rosier and Crawlson wanted. Severus had too much…respect and…admiration for Adrianna to ask her to support Slytherin house instead of Gryffindor.

'_She'd probably laugh me right out of the room anyway…_' He thought darkly, not really paying attention to where he was going. By the time he looked up at his surroundings, Severus realized he'd unconsciously made his way up to the corridor that housed the Gryffindor common room.

'_Shit…_' The Slytherin flattened himself against the wall, frantically trying to think of where else he could go in this gods-forsaken castle. His knuckles whitened with the grip he kept on his potions book and his breathing sped up.

Just then, a nearby portrait of an incredibly overweight lady in a pink dress swung open, and out stepped Adrianna Fawley, dressed to go for a run. Severus gulped loudly and tried in vain to not stare at the slender legs that were revealed by the half-succubus's running shorts.

"Severus?" Her voice dragged his gaze back up to her concerned looking face. "What are you doing up here?"

"I…that is…I…um…" Severus's tongue completely abandoned him and he shrunk into himself like a startled animal.

"Are you alright?" Adrianna walked up to him, completely unaware that being in close proximity to the Slytherin wasn't going to help his ability to speak. When he still couldn't form a coherent reply, she gently took his elbow and pried him off of the wall. "Here, walk with me down to the front doors." Her gray eyes were kind and he allowed himself to be towed down the corridor like a child. As they made their way through the castle, Severus felt his anxiety slowly drain away. He vaguely wondered if Adrianna was using one of her succubus abilities to calm him down, and at that particular moment he didn't even care.

By the time they reached the front entryway to the castle, Severus felt completely calm. Adrianna finally released his arm, and he felt a strange tingling sensation where her fingers had been.

'_Definitely succubus magic._' He thought absently.

"Now," She turned to him and smiled kindly. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes," Severus sighed, his shoulders slumping forward ever so slightly. "It's just…my housemates…they…" He looked back up at her and saw the half-succubus watching him patiently. "I just have a feeling that they're planning something…nasty for the Quidditch match in a few weeks."

"Oh?" Adrianna frowned slightly. "Is there anything we should worry about?"

"Not really…not that I know of anyway." He shrugged his thin shoulders. "I just overheard them…"

She gently patted his shoulder and smiled. "Well, hopefully it was just talk, right? Just try to not worry about it unless you really know they've got something planned. You'll be a lot less stressed out that way."

Severus nodded stiffly, the feeling of anxiety slowly starting to build up in his chest again.

"Well," Adrianna glanced out one of the front windows at the steadily drizzling rain. "I suppose I'd better go run before it gets too late."

"You're going to run in the rain?" He asked confusedly.

"Sure," She grinned. "Running helps keep my succubus side from getting too wound up, and adding in the rain just makes me have to work harder." Adrianna paused and gave him a quick, searching look. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, really, I'm fine." Severus nodded again, long black hair swinging forward into his face.

"Alright," She smiled again and stepped out into the gloom. "Goodnight, Severus." And then she was gone in a flash of obsidian hair and creamy skin.

"Night." Severus whispered before closing the heavy oak door and steeling himself to return to the Slytherin dorms, praying that he didn't run into Rosier or Crawlson on the way.


End file.
